I had four teeth pulled 5 days ago and one side of my mouth is still numb. Is this normal?

Answer 1

not normal. call your dentist have them see you right away.

dental paralysis can happen from numbing but highly unlikely. some regain feeling, some don't. may of hit the nerve dead on,
feels like an being shocked by an electric fence.

needs to be checked out by a professional.

Answer 2

The vast majority of people who get dental anesthetic injections are back to normal within 2-6 hours. I going to assume that you had no vascular or neural problems before your extractions, and that you had lower teeth removed. There are 3 possible explanations that I can think of, in order of likelihood:
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1) the nerve was traumatized when the tooth was removed. Back molars are sometimes very, very close to the inferior alveolar nerve. If the root tip of the tooth compressed, scratched or worse, severed nerve fibers on its way out, you can have altered sensation or numbness in half of your face.

2) the doctor used articaine (marketed as Septocaine) and you had a reaction to it. In just under 1% of the cases, there is prolonged or even permanent paresthesia (partial numbness) or anesthesia (total numbness) when an inferior alveolar block injection (aka IA block) is done with articaine. That's the injection used to extract most lower back teeth. And it is the only commonly done injection that would numb an entire side of the face. 1% doesn't sound like a lot, but in a busy office, that's 1 person every month. I have a colleague who says that if you re-numb the tooth, the nerve "reboots" to normal, but I can't verify that. Most dentists, myself included, feel that 99% safety is not safe enough, and we use a different anesthetic for that particular injection. Articaine is very safe everywhere else in the mouth.

3) the nerve was nicked by the needle - the IA block is a blind injection; you can't see the nerve, so you have to guess where it is within 1 cm. Doctors must either carefully feel their way around known landmarks, or guess and poke. (we teach the former at Loma Linda) Sometimes, the nerve is nicked on the way in. It's more common to see the lingual nerve (which supplies half the tongue) to get nicked during an IA block. This happens far less than 1% of the time. To have half your face numb, your IA nerve was affected, and that's pretty hard to accidentally hit...but it's happened before.
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In your situation, I advise a trip back to your dentist. Make sure the following questions are addressed:
1) was septocaine used to numb my lower molars?
2) does the pre-operative xray (taken before the extraction) show the nerve being close to the tooth? (it is standard of care in most areas to take an xray before removing a tooth)

The good news is that the great majority of cases experience gradual improvement in symptoms. Permanent nerve damage is exceedingly rare. The bad news, is that it can sometimes take weeks or months. You may just have to be patient.

I hope this helps.

Answer 3

No this does not sound normal but it can happen. What it sounds like you have is parasethsia which means that they prob. hit a nerve in just the right way that caused bruising to the nerve hence you are still numb. This can last from anywhere to two weeks to a lifetime, so ask your dentist about this. Let them take a look and go from there. Local ansesth.is not an exact science, and while for the most part it is safe, there is always a chance of nerve damage, esp. if it was any of your wisdom teeth that you had extracted. I would not worry about it you will prob. be fine, but again you need to let your dentist know about this so they can take the necessary actions to correct it, if this is in fact what you have.

Answer 4

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RE:
I had four teeth pulled 5 days ago and one side of my mouth is still numb. Is this normal?

Answer 5

Wow, it should stop being numb after a couple hours, depending on how much work you had done. 4 teeth can be a lot, especially if they are wisdom teeth. Depending on the person though, it can take anywhere from 2-6 hours to get rid of the numbness. I would definately go back and see your dentist and ask him/her what is up. This could be a sign of something more serious!

Answer 6

I am going to disagree with the answer above me. Numbness (or parasethsia) can occur and does on a somewhat regular basis. I would assume the extractions were on the lower arch? True, this can last a few days to weeks or months, but with time, I am sure the sensations will return to normal. See or call your dentist (or oral surgeon). I am not a dentist, but I have seen this and heard of it happening many times. Given that, try not to panic, but listen to the doctors answers. They would know more than I would. FYI, My lower lip was numb for a few weeks after my lower wisdom teeth were removed and it just eventually goes away.

Answer 7

STARR,
THIS IS NOT A NORMAL OCCURRENCE. THERE MIGHT HAVE BEEN AN INADVERTENT INJECTION OF THE ANESTHETIC INTO THE NERVE. THE NERVE ITSELF MIGHT HAVE BEEN LACERATED THROUGH THE INJECTION.
WHILE MOST ANESTHETICS USUALLY WEAR OFF AFTER SEVERAL HOURS, IT IS NEVER NORMAL TO BE NUMB SEVERAL DAYS AFTER THE INJECTION UNLESS DAMAGE HAS BEEN DONE TO THE NERVE.
THE NUMBNESS MAY IMPROVE WITH TIME OR NEVER.
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO NOTIFY THE DENTIST OF YOUR CONDITION.

Answer 8

what everyone else says
see a doctor