What can one do to treat a nerve n the mouth that has been damaged through careless dental surgery?

My friend has a numb lip and jaw as a result.what can she do to try and rectify the situation?

What can one do to treat a nerve n the mouth that has been damaged through careless dental surgery?
Most of the time it will go back on its own. Sometimes the roots of the tooth are near or next to the nerve and removing the tooth can cause some temporary nerve damage. This is one of the risks with extracting some of these teeth, mainly wisdom teeth. Tell her to give it some time and try not to worry. If she is particularly worried have her go see an Oral Surgeon to check it. But she should definitely let the dentist that did the surgery know the situation so they can monitor it. The nerves are not normally damaged through "careless" dental surgery so without seeing an xray of the original situation it's hard to know the full story. Tell your friend good luck!
Reply:do i look like a dentist?
Reply:go to another dentist.





Get him to put his opinion down in writing, then sue the other dentist
Reply:Well she should see a lawyer and get the dentist to fix the problem.
Reply:no
Reply:I agree with the 3rd answer
Reply:Either find another dentist or talk to your dentist. Maybe your dentist will give you a refund or something. Just make sure the dentist doesn't rip you off again!!!!!
Reply:visit an orthodontic surgeon, sue the 1st dentist, and get all your teeth out at his expense and have some new ones put in, no more dental probs.
Reply:I'm not sure their is an answer but if it were me I would try using small electric shocks from one of those joke handshake shockers or something similar twice a day .





Its just a theory and I'm not a doc but it seems to me that if you stimulate the undamaged nerves in the lip and jaw with little shocks they will try to find a way to tell your brain not to do it , hopefully in time it will repair the connection .





Its just a theory but one your own doc might find interesting which might make him offer to help , good luck .





Ask to so a neurosurgeon
Reply:the numbness should last a couple of hours but if its taking long





take photos of the numb lip and jaw and try to have it rectified


by the same technician or a different one





if she is well and fine





proceed with litigations
Reply:Wow, rarely see this many stupid answers.





No matter how careful an oral surgeon is, the possibility of nerve damage in the lower jaw exists. All oral surgeons have you sign a release in case this happens. It's rare, but not unheard of.





The feeling may come back, or it might not. There is nothing further surgery can do but make things worse. You can't re-connect nerves no matter what you read about Frankenstien.





And why is everyone's first thought to "sue!!!". Yike, are you all related to lawyers??
Reply:Nobody knows why some damaged nerves heal and some don't. There is no medical procedure which is guaranteed to heal damaged nerves. Your friend will have a hard job PROVING that her nerves were damaged by the dentist and dentists generally have professional indemnity insurance with which they can fight cases of negligence.





I have nerve damage in my arm from when a nurse gave me an anti-flu injection and she injected it right into a nerve. It's just the luck of the draw.





I wish there was something more positive I could say but that's the way things are. Sorry.
Reply:First of all, be sure that your oral surgeon or dentist knows about this. They need to start following this and documenting progress or lack of it in your chart. They can map out the numbness and compare it from visit to visit.





In MOST CASES, the numbness goes away after 3 or 4 weeks.





In SOME CASES, if the numbess does not go away, corrective surgery is possible. Your surgeon would most likely refer you to a neurosurgeon in a major teaching hospital for evaluation if you show no progress after 3 or 4 weeks.





I wonder how you know that the numbness was through careless surgery and not as a result of risks that were explained to and assumed by your friend prior to the surgery. Please "add details" and give more background information. This would help us "edit" our answers so that they might be more helpful as well.
Reply:nerve injury is a documented complication not necessarily malpractice. Go do an oral surgeon and get a second opinion
Reply:I have to ask why do you assume that it was careless dental surgery? There is a nerve on the lower jaw, that if it is bumped or injured can cause this to happen, and it doesn't have to be from a careless dental surgery. When we do extractions I give patients a consent form that they have to sign that lists all the risks, including injury to adjacent teeth, fracture of root, and possible paralysis of lower jaw, either temporary or permenant.





This may be just temporary, She may need to see an oral surgeon or a pain management specialist.
Reply:how long ago did your friend have the work done.I have the same thing going on.
Reply:Firstly there is no magic cure however accusations of careless dentistry are not always appropiate.





It depends what was being done to your friend when and if your frineds nerve was damaged.





Anything risky should have had all risks explained beforehand and she should have signed a consent form which states that these things have been explained.





But most importantly she has to see the dentist that did the surgery. Damage has to be noted and recorded and if necessary a referral to an oral surgery unit for them to follow up.





I now that in my career I have had a few patients return with nerve numbness after some procedures( and I know I was not "careless"), this was a risk, it was explained beforehand and most of them eventually recovered.





PS suing the dentist will probably achieve nothing.