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a friend had dental crown applied. She received probably lidacain for numbing. 2 days later she is experiencing tongue swelling on that side of her mouth and a burning sensation down her throat to the point of inability to swallow food. She can only swallow liquids comfortably. Whats the deal?
Optional Information: Person's Gender: Female Person's Age: 48 Already Tried: she called her dentist today and he is going to give her a oral mouth wash antibiotic?
Hello
It is possible that what your friend is suffering from is lingual neuralgia.
This is a problem of damage to the lingual nerve, and it usually is a result of the lidocaine injection, either hitting the nerve with the needle, or the medicine causing injury to the nerve itself
the nerve passes deep in the gum line. It is very close if you are working on the molars, near the back of your upper and then lower jaw. It then moves deeply into the muscle of the jaw and innervates the tongue, the anterior 2/3 of the tongue for sensation as well.
The motor part of the tongue is the hypoglossal nerve, so she should not have tongue weakness, but she can have pain and numbness and maybe a loss of some taste (certain types are carried by the facial nerve as well)
Experience: General Adult Neurologist. Board Certified. Experimental Neuroimaging and Neurodiagnostics
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We lost the chat session, I don't know if you were there,,because the chat software is not working well. Please get back to me on this subject if you want to discuss. Infections around the lingual nerve can also create this problem of course, so maybe that is what her dentist is considering. He should take an xray that will give information as to infection around the nerve.
this is a big source of lawsuits, unfortunately but here is a webpage on that topic, it does have some good information
http://www.sciential.net/lingual_nerve_injury_from_anesth.htm
all you can find online is lawsuit information..... but get back to me