I am a 55 year old woman.On July 14 of 2014 I had my lower right wisdom tooth extracted.The procedure was completely painless.There wasn't even much bleeding.Then I went home & the novacaine wore off & I had pain.It was pretty badbut not excruciating.My oral surgeon had prescribed pain killers.The pain killers helped a lot.A few days laterthe right side of my lip & the right side of my chin went numb.It felt as though it had been shot with novacaine again.Then about a week later the numbness went awaybut the right side of my lip 7
2014-11-03 11:02:28
I am a 55 year old woman.On July 14 of 2014 I had my lower right wisdom tooth extracted.The procedure was completely painless.There wasn't even much bleeding.Then I went home & the novacaine wore off & I had pain.It was pretty badbut not excruciating.My oral surgeon had prescribed pain killers.The pain killers helped a lot.A few days laterthe right side of my lip & the right side of my chin went numb.It felt as though it had been shot with novacaine again.Then about a week later the numbness went awaybut the right side of my lip 7 chin began to burn.It was awful.Then I found this website.I read some of the stories & it scared me so much I had an anxiety attack.It said that the burning could be permanent or it could last for months or years.Well I went back to the oral surgeon & he prescribed a steroid for me.Methylprednisolone.I took it for about 6 days and the burning went away.The burning had lasted for over a month but it is gone now.I feel so lucky.It is still a little numb but I can live with that.
2014-11-03 11:02:52
I am glad you found this board. Just a note to say that it is not uncommon to endure pain for the few months...I have for example while others not as much by contrast. In all but perhaps a very rare case the pain subsides. What is unknowable is whether your phase of pain ran its course naturally or whether steroids facilitated the healing process or masked the pain like for example a Cortisone injection...which may perhaps even contribute to residual numbness. Yes many would prefer numbness to pain as neuropathic pain is awful. You mention being left with numbness. How pervasive is your numbness...gums lip and chin?...or just a localized area? Also do you have any tightness? Tightness is perhaps the most common characteristic well into the healing process...I have quite a bit now for example at 4 months though most of the pain is gone including much of the numbness but when the nerve becomes inflamed due to speech or eating the numbness seems to be more prevalent. In my case both numbness and tightness tend to be variable...worse at some times compared to others. Starbrite wrote insightfully that pain tightness and overall weirdness tend to be a precursor to more sensation...what are referred to as breakthroughs. I believe this is spot on however when enduring this ride it feels like the opposite that one is regressing. Recovery can take many months and perhaps a couple of years to achieve most return of sensation and normalcy especially for older people like us. Please share your progress if you would and thanks for the tip on steroids...especially for those struggling with pain which I did until recently however less so now. A last note on pain. Pain oddly is a barometer of the nerve restoring itself. As the nerve regrows from the injury site forward the brain interprets this unrecognizable input as injury to related tissue...in our case the gum lip and chin. It takes a while for the brain to become acclimated to this new input. As it turns out when the nerve regrows its doesn't regrow identical to how it was. Fortunately the brain adapts to this new norm over time. Above unfortunately for all of us can take a very long time depending on the extent of injury to our IAN's
2014-11-03 11:03:48
