Frozen tongue for over a week

[noreenmachine]

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Hey. To add to my already mounting dental problem of a possible vertical crack or maybe a pending root canal (onlay prep in, but severe pain to pressure still), my tongue is still partially frozen from a week and a half ago. My concern is - is there a possibility that this could be permanent? I'm told it might take up to 6 weeks to go away, but I'm getting weird sharp pains in my tongue on the side that was frozen.

It's not completely dead - feels like the freezing was coming out but never completely did. How common is this?? I have to go back tomorrow to get the real onlay on and get frozen again. I'm extremely nervous about it!

Thanks.

 

[grtuck]

I may have missed the background on this, but I am wondering what you are talking about. What is the history of this situation? If there is a link to an old post, I can read that (if it will be easier).

thanks
grtuck

 

[c132]

what do u mean frozen? numb?

 

[noreenmachine]

Hi. I posted earlier - title Onlay Trouble. The frozen tongue came out of that appointment with the dentist.

Thanks!

 

[noreenmachine]

it's not quite frozen now. it was when i first got the freezing in, but it's like the freezing never completely came out. the dentist said it's rare but it does happen (also happened to me several years ago - although that one was much worse).

it is a strange feeling - hard to describe. it feels raw and sore and tingly - i have feeling in it, but it's not normal. i'm guessing he hit my lingual nerve and bruised it or something. i'm just worried it's permanent but he assures me it's not.

 

[quickfix]

noreenmachine,

i am not yet a dentist, nor do i have a lot of experience with or giving anesthetics, but i think the "freezing" senstation you are having is more commonly referred to as numbness or the loss of touch sense. i would think that most of the anesthetics given in a dental office for badly decayed teeth (root canal procedure etc) are procaine or novacain (same chemical). I am also fairly sure that this drug is a sodium channel blocker in nerve cells and that the duration of time one feels the numbness should not normally be longer than a few hours (dose dependent).

one theory would be that the genetics of your nerve cells allows for the novacaine to bind tighter than the general population and therefor you feel numbness for a longer period of time (possibly weeks). You had said that this happened before, but it was much worse.

I would guess that it should go away sooner or later. ask your dentist when you visit him tomorrow. best of luck.

 

[jmill0]

In Canada, you don't get "numb", but rather "frozen". Heard this a few times before from some Canadian patients of mine.... It means the same thing......

 

[UNLV OMS GUNNABE]

i would think that most of the anesthetics given in a dental office for badly decayed teeth (root canal procedure etc) are procaine or novacain (same chemical).

Just as a heads up...novocain is not used anymore nor has it been used for many years. It has an ester type linkage that is much more allergenic. The new anesthetics have amide linkages.

 

[quickfix]

Just as a heads up...novocain is not used anymore nor has it been used for many years. It has an ester type linkage that is much more allergenic. The new anesthetics have amide linkages.

oh yaa, i think i remember someone telling me that... haha --> my dentist. anyways, the amide chemical is still a sodium channel blocker, correct? also, do u think it's possible that our patient here just had a really high dose of the above mentioned drug and that is why the tongue is still "frozen"?

any thoughts?

 

[noreenmachine]

well i've been doing some research on the web and my symptoms are described as a feeling that the tongue is burnt or scalded. i've also read this can be permanent - some patients said they'd had it for over 2 years. 🙁

This doesn't impress me. I have to go back today to get my onlay on which means more freezing in that area. Whatever they use, I need a lot of it to numb the area. My dad is the same way with medication. I'm not a large person but I require more than the normal dose of anything to make it effective.

I just hope this isn't permanent. That would not be good.