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Dentistry - Root canal filling nerve damage
Expert: Gary Backlund, DMD, MSD - 11/3/2009
Question
I recently had a canal root filing which has left a numbness around the right side of my lip/mouth. I believe the nerve runs along the bottom of the jaw. Will this heal and how long will I have this numbness for. I have taken 2 courses of anti-biotics to control the swelling. There does seem to be a small nodule at the base of the tooth that was filled
Regards
Kevin
Answer
Hi Kevin,
I'm sorry to hear all this is going on. When you have numbness after a root canal on the lower, there are 2 possible cause. First, the injection to get you numb, may have done some temporary nerve damage that will heal with time. If this were the case, you may have experienced a feeling like an electric shock on your tongue and/or lip when the dentist was getting you numb.
The other possibility is that you have swelling in the bone that is putting pressure on the nerve causing it to not transmit impulses like it supposed to do. If this is the situation, when the swelling goes away, feeling will return to your lip.
In either case, it is really impossible to tell you how long things will stay numb, since ever patient heals at a different rate. Usually it is a matter of weeks, but could be a month or two before things really feel right again.
Hope this helps.
Gary Backlund DMD, MSD
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