had oral surgery yesterday - lip still feels a little numb from novacain

[purbeast0]

about a month ago i had a mucocele removed from my inner lip, which was caused from lip trauama of biting the shit out of my lip in may, and then biting the shit out of it again like a few days later because it was swollen from the first bite.

the surgery went fine but after she told me sometimes they don't fully go away and can come back, and that is what happened. it seemed to heal fine after a few weeks, but i noticed i still had a small bump there, so i went back yesterday for round 2.

this surgery she said she was going to go a little deeper into the lip. the cut is definitely longer than it was before, and i have noticeably more swelling than before (actually had 0 swelling before). but 28 hours later (surgery was at 9am yesterday) the swelling is almost gone.

the local anesthesia was just the normal looking novacain shot that a dentist uses, but put into my lip instead.

however, i still have some numbness on my lip, on the outer part. it isn't 100% numb, but it feels like it's still in that limbo stage in a small area like when novacain is wearing off but not fully gone. it has been this way since yesterday evening. it might have gone away a little bit compared to yesterday, but i clearly do not have 100% feeling as i normally do.

i am going to call my doc on the way home from work to just let her know, but i'm just curious if anyone else has experienced anything like this and how long it took for it to fully go away.

 

[mizzou]

You might have nerve damage from the surgery

 

[Scarpozzi]

It's not uncommon for that to take a while to go away. Nerve damage can occur, but is rare.

I'm guessing there's still some Novocain present. Things will go back to normal before too long. I've felt the affects of Novocain the next day before. Don't do it rough, but gently massage your lip around the injection site and see if that helps. Drink plenty of water.

 

[mizzou]

It's not uncommon for that to take a while to go away. Nerve damage can occur, but is rare.

I'm guessing there's still some Novocain present. Things will go back to normal before too long. I've felt the affects of Novocain the next day before. Don't do it rough, but gently massage your lip around the injection site and see if that helps. Drink plenty of water.

really? I've had my dentist put 4-5x the normal amount of injected anathestic into my jaw and it still goes away that evening.

 

[purbeast0]

You might have nerve damage from the surgery

this is what i was actually wondering about, which is why i'm going to call and ask if that is a possibility.

some googling shows that there are a lot of anesthesias that are used too, so maybe this is just a stronger one than i'm used to, or she put it deeper in and it just hasn't worn off.

 

[Slew Foot]

really? I've had my dentist put 4-5x the normal amount of injected anathestic into my jaw and it still goes away that evening.

if the anesthetic is injected directly into a nerve sheath the effects can be prolonged. also, the dentist may have used a different type of anesthetic. or you could have lupus.

 

[purbeast0]

if the anesthetic is injected directly into a nerve sheath the effects can be prolonged. also, the dentist may have used a different type of anesthetic. or you could have lupus.

hope i don't have ebola

 

[Scarpozzi]

if the anesthetic is injected directly into a nerve sheath the effects can be prolonged. also, the dentist may have used a different type of anesthetic. or you could have lupus.

Soft tissues of the lip/cheek are quite different than other parts of your body. When you pair that to the blood flow of the area, it could make it so pockets of anesthetic could take longer to dissipate..

Not to scare you OP, cases are rare. Like I said, give it another day and you should be back to normal. Drink water:
Prolonged Pain, Numbness or Paresthesia (burning or tingling) after the procedure

Injection into a neurovascular bundle

Make no mistake. Local anesthesia is serious medicine, and a dental injection is a serious surgical procedure. Some people are more susceptible to negative local toxic effects of the anesthetic agent or the associated vasoconstrictor than most, and these people may suffer some local negative and (generally) temporary side effects from the agents. Injection directly into a nerve trunk may unintentionally happen after the patient is already numb and unable to feel the intrusion. Injection directly into a neurovascular bundle (nerve trunk) may cause physical damage due to the expansion of the anesthetic bolus, local toxic effects of the agent and ischemia in the nerve from the vasoconstrictor. The vast majority of these complications slowly heal and are gone over a period of several weeks or months. Upon rare occasion, they can last quite a bit longer (over a year), but if the patient waits it out, the injury will generally heal.

Physical reaction to the anesthetic itself

Local anesthetic agents that come in higher concentrations such as articaine and prilocaine have been implicated in a very slightly higher incidence of this complication. This most commonly occurs in major nerve blocks of the lower jaw. At this time, no one knows why this happens, but it is a fairly rare complication.

Injection under the periosteum

Sometimes the tip of the needle may penetrate under the periosteum which is the thin, tough covering of the bone. When this happens, the periosteum is separated from the surface of the bone and serious pain can result when the anesthesia wears off. In spite of the severity of the pain, the damage is temporary and generally is gone within 12 hours.

- See more at: http://doctorspiller.com/Local_Anesthetics/local_anesthetics_5.htm#sthash.nigMgTtX.dpuf

 

[Anubis]

last time I had a major dental procedure done it took 2 days for my face to feel normal

 

[purbeast0]

Soft tissues of the lip/cheek are quite different than other parts of your body. When you pair that to the blood flow of the area, it could make it so pockets of anesthetic could take longer to dissipate..

Not to scare you OP, cases are rare. Like I said, give it another day and you should be back to normal. Drink water:
Prolonged Pain, Numbness or Paresthesia (burning or tingling) after the procedure

Injection into a neurovascular bundle

Make no mistake. Local anesthesia is serious medicine, and a dental injection is a serious surgical procedure. Some people are more susceptible to negative local toxic effects of the anesthetic agent or the associated vasoconstrictor than most, and these people may suffer some local negative and (generally) temporary side effects from the agents. Injection directly into a nerve trunk may unintentionally happen after the patient is already numb and unable to feel the intrusion. Injection directly into a neurovascular bundle (nerve trunk) may cause physical damage due to the expansion of the anesthetic bolus, local toxic effects of the agent and ischemia in the nerve from the vasoconstrictor. The vast majority of these complications slowly heal and are gone over a period of several weeks or months. Upon rare occasion, they can last quite a bit longer (over a year), but if the patient waits it out, the injury will generally heal.

Physical reaction to the anesthetic itself

Local anesthetic agents that come in higher concentrations such as articaine and prilocaine have been implicated in a very slightly higher incidence of this complication. This most commonly occurs in major nerve blocks of the lower jaw. At this time, no one knows why this happens, but it is a fairly rare complication.

Injection under the periosteum

Sometimes the tip of the needle may penetrate under the periosteum which is the thin, tough covering of the bone. When this happens, the periosteum is separated from the surface of the bone and serious pain can result when the anesthesia wears off. In spite of the severity of the pain, the damage is temporary and generally is gone within 12 hours.

- See more at: http://doctorspiller.com/Local_Anesthetics/local_anesthetics_5.htm#sthash.nigMgTtX.dpuf

as for the bolded, when she was doing the surgery, i did feel a little sensation mid-way through, so she gave me more novacain (i'm guessing in a spot close to where i felt it) while i was already numb. so that is pretty much what is explained in that part. wonder if that is what happened :/

 

[z1ggy]

You sure he used Novocain? I got like 6 shots once for a cavity, and it was all gone 12 hours later. Never heard it taking 28hours to dissipate.

 

[purbeast0]

You sure he used Novocain? I got like 6 shots once for a cavity, and it was all gone 12 hours later. Never heard it taking 28hours to dissipate.

not a clue what it was, that was just my generic term for "local dentist anesthesia" lol.

 

[z1ggy]

not a clue what it was, that was just my generic term for "local dentist anesthesia" lol.

Actually, it wasn't likely Novocaine at all, it was probably Lidocaine at first. But, if you only got a few injections and were numb for 24+hr, they may have gone with something more powerful, or...You have nerve damage. The half life for many of these -"cain" pain blockers are in the few hour range.

 

[dank69]

This is just a side effect of all the oral sex you gave your doctor while you were under.

 

[Scarpozzi]

All this talk reminded me of this...

I never thought Sinbad was that funny, but this was:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMScVoNdZfI

 

[njmodi]

I hate to say it - but I think you may well have nerve damage. The doc may tell you it's parasthesia - and that the nerve will recover after some time - but it may also have been damaged to the point where it does not.

I wish you the best with it.

Edit: PM if you want more info.

 

[purbeast0]

I hate to say it - but I think you may well have nerve damage. The doc may tell you it's parasthesia - and that the nerve will recover after some time - but it may also have been damaged to the point where it does not.

I wish you the best with it.

Edit: PM if you want more info.

i called but i guess they close early on fridays because they were closed at 3pm

i don't know if it's in my head or not, but i am starting to feel like it does have more feeling now than it did last night, so hopefully it's healing slowly but surely. but it's also on my lip like right on the other side of where all the trauma from the surgery is.

like ... it feels that the anesthesia is like 80% - 85% worn off. you know, like the feeling when novacain is wearing off but it's just not fully there.

EDIT:

also just got home and looked at my lip in the mirror, and other than the inside of my lip where the surgery was looking like a little vagina with a yeast infection, the outter part of my lip that is feeling this way looks like it could be slightly bruised. it has a little hint of being black/blue compared to the rest of my lip. and it's probably like 20% of my lip on the right side of my lip feeling tihs way.

 

[njmodi]

i called but i guess they close early on fridays because they were closed at 3pm

i don't know if it's in my head or not, but i am starting to feel like it does have more feeling now than it did last night, so hopefully it's healing slowly but surely. but it's also on my lip like right on the other side of where all the trauma from the surgery is.

like ... it feels that the anesthesia is like 80% - 85% worn off. you know, like the feeling when novacain is wearing off but it's just not fully there.

It is possible that a nerve is being compressed due to the swelling and as that internal swelling subsides, the numbness wears off.

 

[purbeast0]

It is possible that a nerve is being compressed due to the swelling and as that internal swelling subsides, the numbness wears off.

the swelling in general has gone down a lot today, and as mentioned, i do feel like there is more feeling now than last night. i don't think it is in my head, but it could be. but yeah, it' still definitely swollen internal a little bit, i can definitely feel that.

thanks for the info!

 

[DaveSimmons]

Give it more time before stressing too much.

A couple of years ago I had a root canal on an upper-right molar and for a couple of days that side of my mouth didn't move normally -- if I smiled, only the left side curved properly. It was like Bell's Palsy but thankfully not permanent.

 

[AgentUnknown]

Novocaine hasn't been used in years.

 

[OverVolt]

Which anesthetic? I wouldn't worry about it yet.

 

[njmodi]

Any changes to how your lip feels?

 

[Wingznut]

I had that happen when I had a filling put in. I was awfully worried, but it subsided little by little and completely went away in a few weeks.

That being said, you should still call as soon as you can. Just in case it is worse than my example, and you need to take legal action down the road.