Expert: Benjamin Schwartz, DDS FAGD - 2/3/2009

Question
About 15 years ago, I lost a filling on my left lower molar. It was the second to last one. I went to a dentist that I had never gone to before. He numbed me and tried to drill on me but, I experienced too much pain. About an 8 or a 9 on the pain scale. He put a temporary filling sent me home with pain medication and told me to come back in a week. I returned to the dentist, having taken the pain medication. He numbed the tooth and the same thing happened again. He took a break and went into to his office and studied. He returned and told me that I was one out of a thousand people that have an extra nerve in there teeth. He said that this nerve is usually only numbed during extractions. Once he numbed that nerve, he was able to drill and I felt no pain. Unfortunatly, I don't remember the name of the nerve, the dentist, or the exact location of his office. I recently had a problem with the same tooth. I went to a different dentist and experienced the same problem. He numbed me several times. He even numbed the inside of the tooth. I still felt quite a bit of pain. He did finish the crown, but, I experienced quite a bit of pain. I would like to know what nerve needs to be numbed so that I can communicate that to any dentist that works on me in the future.

Answer
Hi Al,

That does sounds interesting.

I don't now if I have the exact answer to this. However, often enough, the nerve the mylohyoid plays a large part in this. This nerve needs to be anesthetized along the lingual aspects of the roots of the molar.

Again, I don't know if this is what you were referring to, but I hope this helps.

Please let me know if you have any questions.