Dental Paresthesia
I’m suffering from mild dental paresthesia at the moment. What this means is that I had a simple filling replacement yesterday morning. (The old one was cracking, no big deal.)
After the anesthetic wore off, the tip of my lower lip on the same side as the filling work was still mildly tingly (paresthesia) along with a sensation of odd pressure, perhaps mild numbness or changed sensation, near the tooth itself. It’s like I have someone pushing down on the tooth a bit, firmly or as if something is pushing on it like when you get something hard stuck between your teeth. It isn’t painful though, just odd. During the procedure, when the anesthetic was injected, we were obviously close to the nerve because I got a big jolt, almost like having ice water dumped in. The dentist (who is actually the best I’ve ever had) commented that the anesthetic must have hit the nerve all at once and the sensation was the shock…
I did a search on google for the sensations that I’m having and found references. It isn’t uncommon (nor is it terribly common) though it normally happens when major work is done like wisdom teeth since they are near the nerve. It can happen anytime anesthetic is used. The references all said that, except when it is occasionally permanent because of trauma to the nerve, is wears off anywhere from a couple of days to eight weeks (!!) later.
My dentist is closed on Wednesdays but I left a message. He called me back this evening. I described the symptoms. He confirmed what I had read. He said that it may take a week or two to wear off (hopefully it does) and it happens sometimes. I should watch for mild improvements and call him back in a week if it doesn’t seem to be getting better.
Fuck yeah, that’s just wonderful. Next Friday, a bit over a week, I go to Thailand. He did confirm it isn’t progressive so it won’t get any worse. It’s probably just the nerve being aggravated (like the rest of me now).
