A Routine Procedure To The Dentist Left My Tongue Paralyzed For A Week
August 7th, 2007
Written By: Adam Sussman
One word can rap up this entire experience: OUCH!
A few weeks ago one of my old fillings came loose and fell out while eating. So I made my way over to the dentist to have a look. As it turned out the filling fell out because food found its way deep in the hole causing a wider gap.
My dentist jacked me up with Novocain along the right side of my mouth in order to drill deeper and then repair with a new filling.
This was a routine procedure and one I have had a few times since those fillings I had from the ’80’s were getting old.
Typically I have found the numbness of Novocain wares off after a few hours following a procedure. In this case the numbness continued to increase as the day went on.
The following morning I called my dentist to inform him the right side of my mouth is numb and I could not feel my tongue. I could move my tongue around but it was like moving a lame fat muscle.
I was told that in rare events a Novocain injection could traumatize nerves in or around the tongue causing temporary paralysis that can last from a few hours up to a few months. In some rare instances it may never go away.
Over the past week the pain has been excruciating. Just yesterday I was eating a BBQ potato chip and for a second I thought I sliced my tongue with a razor blade. After checking it out in the mirror it appeared I did nothing to my tongue at all.
One of the big problems is because I can not feel my tongue there are times when I am biting down on it and I don’t realize it till I taste the blood.
Finally I headed back to my dentist and he explained to me there was nothing he could do. But I asked him to create me a plastic mouth guard to prevent my tongue from touching my teeth because every time they connected it felt like razor blades to my tongue.
I am now wearing a plastic guard which seems to help with that awful slicing sensation.
I’ve done some research on the web and there are a few posts regarding this rare consequence of a Novocain treatment but it is so rare there is really not much out there. As my dentist said, I should play the lottery because that’s the odds of something like this going wrong. (He is a cool dentist and I actually felt bad for him because I know he did nothing wrong).
It’s not easy to describe the pain but here are the symptoms
- It’s as if I am licking a 9 volt battery every so often and that sensation surfs around the tongue.
- Every 30 hours or so pressure builds up on the tip of my tongue as if it is ready to explode, but it subsides.
- There is a feeling you have a corn chip stuck below the tongue and you can not get it loose. Thus causing you to strain those back muscles causing even more discomfort.
- You have very little taste for anything.
- It’s an ongoing struggle to not bite the tongue.
The promising news is I have much more sensation than I did a week ago. The tongue is no longer lame and I can feel it repairing itself. The crappy thing is, as the nerves are repairing themselves my tongue is now extremely sore due to all the chomping I have done on it.
August 7th, 2007 13:25
That is incredibly freaky.
August 8th, 2007 12:30
It has not been fun!
August 8th, 2007 13:43
Boy do I feel your pain … er … I would if I could feel anything in my bottom right gumline. I had an accidental intra-venous injection of Novacaine (basically, the guy went way too far while injecting and sent it directly into my bloodstream), and I had a seizure in the dentist’s chair. Not only do I have some of the problems you describe (thankfully my tongue got better after about three weeks, but my lower gums on the right side are always numb), but my jaw also ‘clicks’ now due to the damage caused by the dentist when he tried to pry open my mouth during the seizure (not the right thing to do). Anyway, I considered suing, but ultimately passed. Have a different dentist now and my 10-year old daughter still talks about seeing her dad get loaded into an ambulance.
August 10th, 2007 06:17
holy crap! I had no idea that novacaine could be so damaging. A real eye opener, since I’m experiencing multiple dentist visits at the moment.
Glad you’re feeling better, Shandy!
February 12th, 2008 10:32
I am so sorry to hear what happened to you. Is is all better yet? Had to be a freaky experiance. DId having that guard in your mouth make it hard to talk?
February 13th, 2008 17:25
It took about 4 months for the numbing feeling to go away. I only kept the guard in my mouth for a couple days. There are times now when I get that numbing sensations for it last for only a few seconds..
May 19th, 2008 21:56
Its seems to be much better now. There are times when it numbs up for no reason, but I’ve been told that nerves could still be healing.
July 25th, 2008 08:59
Same thing happened to me last week, and I’m so glad I found your website: I thought I was dying of something incurable. This is really, REALLY annoying. But I feel better after reading your description, especially the battery part. I go back in a week for the permanent crown and will talk with him about it then. Mu dentist is really cool, too, and I know stuff happens.Thanks again.
September 3rd, 2008 14:52
It has been 2 months for me - My left side of tongue is still numb and i haven’t seen much change for the last month and i am feeling anxious about it?? I had root cleaning on left side and one cavity done.. any dentist here??
November 3rd, 2008 11:44
I was told by my dentist it’s called “parasethesia”, and it can last up to six weeks, rarely longer. (my luck, I’ll be in the “longer” category) Just got my tongue (and half my face) froze up on Friday, Halloween. I didn’t intend to dress up as the elephant woman, but I sure felt like I looked like it!!! My face unfroze by the end of the evening, but apparently, I’ve got awhile to go before all the feeling in my tongue comes back. It sucks!! I totally get the corn chip feeling. It’s maddening!! I answer the phones in my office and right now, it’s an ongoing struggle to make sure I don’t bite my tongue and swear.
November 3rd, 2008 11:56
Well the good news is it does go away but it felt like months for me. As for biting your tongue, that is going to happen, and happen a lot. I rinsed with warm water and salt for a month.