Numbing Reversal

Numbness in the mouth after visiting a dentist is a usual phenomenon. However, numbness can be quite annoying and irritating. It may last to four or five hours and makes eating, drinking and talking difficult. The duration of numbness usually depends on the fact that how many shots of local anesthesia were given. When you have a numb mouth, it can be quite frustrating if you start getting hungry or try to converse with someone. In most cases, you can not do a whole lot to speed up numbing reversal, as it passes away naturally. However, there are some ways through which you may get some relief.

General Numbing Reversal methods

1) Massage the skin around your mouth. You can gently rub your fingers in small circles around the gums and jaw. You can also massage near your lip and the specific area where you are feeling numbness. Never rub vigorously as you may cause damage to the area of your face where it is numb. Due to the numbness, you would not know how hard you are rubbing. Massaging the numb area promotes blood flow and circulation into the numbed area. Increasing blood flow reduces the duration of numbness.

2) Eat something soft that does not require any chewing. Eat very slowly and carefully so that you do not choke on something. Eating something cold, like a ice cream, is also a good option. Gentle chewing increases blood flow, reducing the duration of numbness. When your mouth is numb, you may not feel how cold or hot the food is. So, eating something cold is a better option than eating something hot. You may burn your mouth or lip.

3) Try to sleep it off. Taking a nap will take your mind off the numbness. Sleeping is a good option because numbness usually lasts for a couple of hours. There are chances that once you wake up, numbness would have been gone.

4) At Southgate dental, we also suggest our patients to go ahead with Vasodilators. These are numbing reversal agents which are injected into the same area as the local anesthesia. Vasodilators are injected into your mouth once the dental procedure is over. Vasodilators dilate blood vessels and reverse the numbing effect. With the use of Vasodilators, numbness tends to wear off in half the time than what would have taken naturally.

5) The last and the most important way to numbing reversal is quite simple. Just wait it out. All the other methods which have been mentioned give you some relief, but it is temporary. It is good if you let the numbness go away naturally. It takes about three to four hours for a complete and permanent relief from numbness. Premature relief from numbness may result in feeling the pain of dental work or procedure. It may also result in delayed healing of the affected area. It is advisable to let the numbness go away on its own, so that you do not feel the pain in your mouth. Feeling numb rather than feeling the pain is a better option.