It really sucks to be honest. I mean, for one, I should have had them out when I was younger. I’m only 28, but evidently after 24ish you start running a higher risk for complications during the extraction. Anyhow, moving on a little with the story. The oral surgeon hasn’t given a name to my current condition, but where I to self-diagnose (and that’s a real slippery slope), I would say I have what is called Paresthesia. You can find out more about Paresthesia on this page, it’s signs & symptoms almost exactly match mine. Basically, my lower lip, then going from the corners of my lips all the way down to the bottom of my chin are numb. Then the gums under my front lower teeth are numb. Numb is not the entirely correct word for the entire region, for some places it’s more of a highly changed sensation. From what I’ve read, this condition has the potential to be permanent, however after having spoken with my oral surgeon, it sounds like that shouldn’t be the case for me hopefully. But it does sound like I’m most likely going to have to put up with it for weeks at the minimum, and more likely months until sensation comes back to me fully in this area. The condition comes from a nerve in the lower jaw being damaged. It’s amazingly annoying.
Talking is a strain. I have to work very hard to be sure I’m not mumbling, and this seems to strain other muscles in my face, causing fatigue and soreness in them. The muscles in the numb region seem to be going haywire, like they don’t quite know what to do. They’re not doing contortions on my face or anything, but they’re very tight it seems. If I move my jaw in certain ways, I can feel them tugging on other parts of my face/jaw.
As best as we (read: my oral surgeon) can tell, the nerve was most likely touched when she was administering the local anasthesia. She said when removing my lower teeth, she didn’t see the nerve (which is usually a good sign), so she doesn’t believe the actual extraction caused the problem.
Two days ago I went in for a unscheduled check-up since I was still experiencing numbness. She did some tests on the area, basically to get a sense of how much of my sensory abilities were inhibited. I could in general tell the difference between a sharp touch or a dull touch in all areas she tested I believe. She did another test where she touched two places on the area and asked me to tell her whether she was touching two points or one, and she moved it around. I believe she was just moving the points closer together, in all except one area I think I got those correct (another good sign). Then she did a temperature test. Basically touching something warm or something cold to different areas, and asking which it was. For the most part I could tell the difference in all except one area. I could tell she was touching me because of the pressure, but I couldn’t tell if it was warm or cold. She said temperature is usually one of the last things to return. All things considered, I guess this is good news. She said I had a good prognosis for regaining all my sensation.
I go in again today for another appointment (my original check-up after the extraction). Hopefully I’ll get a chance to ask her some more questions I have and get answers. She measured the area that was altered, so we could gauge improvement over time, but I don’t expect to see any change in the course of two days. I’m not sure she’ll even bother to measure again today.
Anyhow, maybe I’m just whining, but I’ve been real surprised how much this has affected me. You don’t realize how much you rely on that region of your face I guess, heh.
:(
