One of the things that I searched for when I first found this site after I had inferior alveolar nerve injury following a dental implant, was some guide or blueprint to recovery. In other words, I hoped to find a consensus as to the most common stages of nerve regeneration/resolution.

Now, seven weeks after my implant 'accident,' I have recovered approximately 85% of the feeling in my lower lip, chin and bottom teeth. I expect to recover completely. Having consulted with a neurologist friend who tells me that my experience is fairly typical for nerve injuries that exclude severance, I think it might be useful to others on this site for me to describe the stages that I have gone through on my path to healing.

The first stage, anesthesia, lasted three full weeks. I had a wooden lip and chin. During that time I could not even feel a needle inserted several millimeters into the affected areas. My oral surgeon would send me home with multiple bleeding pinprick areas both inside and outside my mouth; I never even felt him stick me.

I spit when I spoke (nice for my students, right?), and often bit the inside of my lower lip. I dribbled drinks and slurred my words. Great for my reputation as a college professor ("I am sure she must have started to drink!").

The following stage involved a sensation that I can only compare to sucking on an extremely strong lemon. Several times a day, especially after eating something salty or spicy, I had the impression that the affected area would gather into a tight mass and become turgid, contracted and swollen.

After that, the area began to burn. Sometimes it was so painful that I cried. This stage lasted about ten days, but if felt like an eternity since the pain would wake me several times at night and I could find no relief.

Shortly after that, the burning mingled with intense itching. However, when I scratched, I could not feel my fingernails on my skin. Very disconcerting!

The final stage -- the one in which I am at this point in time -- involves a very gradual return of feeling in the affected area. Sensation returns starting at the place of injury and gradually moves toward the front of the mouth. From reading testimony on this site I have discovered this to be the case also with lingual nerve injury -- recovery commences at the point of damage and moves forward to the tip of the tongue.

In my case, the implant impinged on the first molar toward the middle of the mouth on the right-hand side, and I can trace recovery of sensation millimeter by millimeter from that site toward the middle of my chin, and now upward into my lower lip. Often the recovery of sensation is accompanied by stabbing or shooting pains along the path of the mental nerve. And, of course, the ever-present burning.

Today I can feel the heat in BOTH sides of my lower lip when I drink a cup of hot coffee. I can also feel a kiss. It is pretty cool!

I hope that this step-by-step description of nerve resolution answers some of the questions that I looked for when I first found this marvellous site. I know from my colleague (mentioned above) that resolution/regeneration doesn't follow the same schedule in everyone (in some people the nerve might be severed, in which case recovery might never take place although some sensation can be recovered through peripheral nerve regeneration).

But, yet again according to my friend, my case is fairly typical for bruising and/or stretching and/or puncture injury to the nerves in the mouth.

Thank you, Ross, for establishing and maintaining this site. Best of luck -- a great big hug, actually -- to everyone out there who has experienced one of these horrible accidents. May your recovery be swift and complete.

Annette

I wondered how you were doing since your last posting. Glad you are close to 100% recovered. I hope you see a total recovery soon and you never have to deal with this again. It is good to see that someone has found healing from their nerve injury. I don't think we hear enough about the people that have healed. Thanks for the very good news.

I've been told that for my type of nerve injury (injectional) approximately 80% heal within a year. I'm not sure what happens to the other 20%. I hope I don't have to find this out for myself. I'm currently 8 months out from my injury and I don't see the end of this anytime soon, but my symptoms are controlled by medications.

I want to stress again that everyone's injury and recovery is unique to that person. The information on this site is helpful if kept in perspective. It isn't a definitive outline for healing or treatment, but should be used as a guide. To the new people reading info on this site I hope you don't get discouraged if your progress doesn't match someone else's.

I know for me, when I was newly injured I looked for answers to help me make sense of my injury. Reading about other people's symptoms and treatments has been very helpful for me. Reading about another's recovery has been very helpful in renewing my hope.

Keep Hope for Healing Alive!

"T"

Thank you so much for sharing your words of wisdom regarding nerve injuries. Yes, they DO take a very long time to heal, and I guess I am living proof of that.

When I was 30 I had lower back surgery which was very successful. It was my second one. ( I am 46 now). Anyway, to make a long story short, I injured my nerve roots by over-aggressive stretching during the post-operative phase, and oh my gosh, I thought my nerves in my legs would NEVER heal! I was advised by my ortho guy that I had scarred my nerve roots and he suggested I go ahead and have a nice life. Well, it took approximately 2 years, but believe it or not, I got back to 100%.

During the recovery time, I wanted to cut off my lower appendages. I know that this forum is for oral nerve complications, but what I guess I wanted to share is that regardless where the nerve is or how long it is...IT DOES HEAL. I had relentless burning, weird sensations, as if insects were crawling on my skin, RSD (reflex sympathetic dystrophy), the whole nine yards. At yet, over time, when I was at the point of feeling no more useful than an ameoba, I actually started to get better.

The recovery of nerves is a very difficult path to pinpoint because one day you feel great, do a whole bunch of things, and the next day, you feel even worse than you originally did. The best benchmark I can suggest is that there will come a day when you do something that would normally cause an abnormal reaction in the nerves, and it just doesn't happen! You test it again, because you are suspicious of this, having lived with this pain for so long, but lo and behold, it is true! The nerve has healed to the point that it will allow you to do something that it would not allow you to do before!

I guess, I just wanted to give support and hope to so many people that feel that any pain that lasts longer than six months is not going to go away, or have been told by their doctors that their healing time is abnormal.

I know from firsthand experience that this is not the case, and I have shovelled snow and lifted for the past 10 years, without pain. Prior to that, during that difficult 2 year phase, I was essentially useless.

I got my wisdom teeth out almost 3 weeks ago. 3 full impactions, and one partial. So for the 2 bottom teeth, he had to break up the stupid things and pull them out piece by piece (no wonder I wasn't back to work until a week later). My left lip, gums, and chin are still quite numb, but it's almost like the area is just starting to "shrink." I'm hypersensitive in the very outer margin of the numbness. I am experiencing what some call "transference," where if I touch my cheek, my lip tingles. I used to have no tingling toward midline or on my lip, but within the last few days I'm starting to get more toward midline. I can feel pressure, but it's sort of like what a callus feels when you rub it. Or if someone is rubbing your back through a thick coat as opposed to bare skin. (That's the best way I can describe it.) Doc says this is all normal, and recovery rate varies so much between people that it's hard to say when I'll be "all better." He's expecting me to be numb for another good few weeks (I'm thinking more like months), and he told me to be patient. Oh, and also when I brush my lip with my toothbrush, I feel pain. Also pain when I lightly brush my chin with my fingernail. Temperature (mainly hot) seems hotter than it is on that side. Any sensation is good sensation at this point.

So that's pretty much my story 3 weeks out. My jaw still hurts a bit, and the sockets are a little sensitive yet. Plus I still can't chew anything really chewy, like yummy tootsie rolls and crusty bread, and if you bump into my jaw area, it still hurts, so I'm guessing there is still some bruising. I figure if I'm still bruised, of course I'm not feeling anything in my lip...nerves are the last thing to heal. They take a long time.

Anyway, hope this helps some of you. The main thing my doc said is "give yourself time to heal." That helped a tad. It's kinda hard when there is a constant reminder of a "dead thing" on your face that used to be your lip. Hopefully I won't dribble during Thanksgiving dinner with my boss. Haha. Good luck to all of you out there.

-Jen

Two weeks out, I have a slight bit of "under the callous" feeling to heavy pressure, and a light tough, like a hair brushing my chin, causes pain, almost like a painful ticklishness. My lip is still quite numb, however, although every once in a while there's a tingle in it.

Here's hoping I continue to go through the rest of the stages Annette described!

I am 8 weeks today post-wisdom tooth extraction...and it was a pretty traumatic time for me....I had 2 taken out in hospital, both left hand side and for some reason my blood decided not to clot so while laying in recovery (waiting to recover) I had to have both gums stitched even more to stop the bleeding. Then I had to spend the night in hospital.

As I mentioned it is 8 weeks since the extractions and after spending nearly a month and a half thinking I was always going to be numb in the chin, lip and gum (and slurp my drinks and dribble my food down my new tops!!) I started to get some weird feelings. I tried to be positive and think that they meant my body was healing etc, but....arrrgghhh.

So to read Annette's post I felt like she was describing most of the feelings I couldn't find words to describe (Esp the one about sucking on lemons).

Regarding feeling in my chin, I am about 65% on a good day and am getting what I can only describe as a toothache in the area where the tooth was, an intense itchy feeling across my chin and a sensation that feels like I have icy water trickling down my chin. For me the worst sensation at the moment is the feeling that I am having pins stuck in my tongue. Ouch!

My speech goes a bit slurred if I am tired and my left side tends to droop a bit but reading this post has made me feel that I am on the road to recovery...especially looking forward to the feeling a kiss part!! (and if my husband is reading this, yes I mean from you! lol)

Thank you for posting it and here's to the next lot of sensations...whatever they may be!!

Cami

P.S.I am not always this positive about feeling like this and have been so low at times that I have sat and cried and cried...but with fingers crossed and the wind in the right direction, I hope to be back (maybe in a month, maybe a year)posting about my full recovery!

I've given up hope that it will ever be better. It has not changed in 5 years, not better nor worse (so at least that's good).

I've not read any other postings that are similar to mine? has anyone else experienced this?

pe1

I was injured two weeks ago today and it has been a nightmare as you all know. I, as many of you did not get much feedback and support from the surgeon that performed the extraction of my 4 wisdom teeth. I was put under general anesthesia and when I woke up I was bleeding quite a bit, full of gauze, druling continuously and in a lot of pain. My left chin, tip of my tongue, right side of my tongue going up, teeth(mostly the left bottom ones), under my tongue and lower gums were numb and still are. I was told the surgery went well and that a person with a healthy mouth should have no problem recovering. I went home, very weak and faintly. I was given only a prescribed pain killer. I could barely open my mouth and had much swelling and pain from the streching. I could barely talk. 3 days later I phoned the surgeon because the same symptoms were still there. He said it should go away in a few weeks. I went to see him the next day regardless and he said it is rare but sometimes this happens, to try not think about it and go to my interview which was in a week. He said, "Call me when you feel you have significant improvement" because he likes to keep record of them. It was with my desperation and will to survive that I found this site. Your stories are inspiring and I feel your pain. You are not alone. Due to being unable to properly nourish myself I ended up calling 911 a few days ago because my body was shutting down. I was very low on Potasium and dehydrated. A gentle doctor took care of me. My fingers up to my elbows went numb and were becoming paralyzed in no time. I thank God every day that I am still alive and able to move and hug and touch my children and husband. I was finally given Naproxen and it has helped the swelling. I am taking a vitamin B Complex and multivitamin. I am drinking high protein shakes and eating for my life depends on it. I have been able to get back some of my speech in the last few days but still have the numbing, tingling, throbbing chin, that we all have. I want to tell you that I have been praying to the Lord every day since I found out about my injury (IAL and Linguistic)and HE is always with me. We are not alone. God is with us and feels our pain. I know this is so hard but God will give you the strength when you feel you can't go on. His gentle love will heal you as He is healing me. I pray for all of us every night because I know that God is with us. Thank God every day that you can breath, feel the warmth of the people who love you and have others who know your pain. God bless all of you.

My oral surgeon was very unhelpful and didn't want to know me after the surgery and I can absolutely relate to other peoples stories of their experiences with this. Not knowing what was happening to me and if I would ever get better, coupled with an oral surgeon who couldn't have cared less was horrible.

Doctor Annette's stages of recovery are very similar to mine and her story helped me stay positive when I felt very down. I found this forum about 3 weeks after my surgery and it is something I have been coming back to since to read other peoples stories and keep positive.

I still haven't recovered complete feeling but it is getting better very slowly and it is fantastic just to be able to feel something, whether it be the heat from a cup of coffee or the sensation of my fingernail if I run it over my lip or chin.

Good luck to everyone else out there who has experienced this. I hope your recovery is quick and complete.

Carolina M

Week 1-2: Throbbing, cramping pain on left chin; freezing numbness on teeth(specially front left bottom ones) and inner and outer gums; left bottom lip painfully numb; jaw pain, facial muscle pain from stretching and tension headaches; painful to try to speak(loss of ability to pronounce certain letter sounds (ie: R,L,SH,...), slow speech, swollen tongue; tongue shifting more to the right, tightness of tongue and loss of some movement; Difficulty opening mouth but a few centimetres. Metallic taste when lenching teeth.

Week 3-4: Painful cramping on chin continuing but moving upward toward my lip. Lots of tingling(almost bubbly) on tongue and under tongue. Sometimes throbbing on right side of neck. Speech improving and less painful. "Stetchy strings" on my tongue tip.

Week 4-5: Tingling slowing down. Sensation in other areas of mouth when touching a different area( ie: touching roof of mouth and feeling it on my tongue). less numbing on my chin and no pain to touch it. Tension headaches less often but still there. Sore throat and painful sinus (could be a cold). Stretchy strings on my tongue seem more spead out. Less freezing feeling to numb areas.

Week 6: Still recovering but much better

I hope this helps anyone looking for information on the recovery process.

Thank you so much for posting this. It's great to hear stories about people recovering from this. I just got injured 4 days ago and it's already unbearable! My lower teeth, lips, and chin are completely numb. I have been feeling extremely depressed and I can't even imagine going back to work tomorrow. I work in sales which means I'm dealing with customers constantly. How do you deal with social situations? It's hard when you feel the pain. You just don't want to speak to anybody. PLease let me know when you regain full sensations again. I need to know there is hope! Is there anything you suggest doing to help speed up the process? Thank you and god bless!

Nina