Many dental and gum treatments involve local anesthesia. Patients may subsequently experience pain in the jaw.
Anesthesia and Jaw Pain
The choice of anesthetic in each case depends on the characteristics of the disease and the individual health of the patient. For example, minor caries can be treated without anesthesia. Treatment of moderate caries, pulpitis and periodontitis is necessarily carried out with anesthesia. The patient does not feel the needle at all: we use applicative anesthesia prior to giving the injection, which eliminates the sensitivity of the cheek, palate or gums. Anesthesia is mandatory for dental extractions. The dosage of the anesthetic depends on the patient’s age, weight, estimated duration of the treatment procedure, and other factors.
In some cases, patients report discomfort several hours after the treatment procedure. As a rule, a slight pain in the injection area and slight swelling of the cheek are of concern. We hasten to assure you – this is a normal reaction of the body to the medication, due to your personal sensitivity threshold. These sensations do not represent any danger and do not require you to consult a specialist. A slight pain after a tooth extraction, during which gum incisions were made, is also absolutely normal. If necessary, our dentists recommend pain medication, which should be taken for the disappearance of unpleasant symptoms a few hours after treatment.
Another issue is if the pain is quite intense, accompanied by an increase in body temperature and noticeable swelling. In this case, it is imperative to report the symptoms to the attending physician. You should not endure the pain and drink anesthetics if the pain lasts more than two days after the dental procedure.
In any case, you should not worry if after a tooth extraction you have, for example, a fever or a slight swelling. In 99% of cases, this is nothing more than an individual body reaction to surgery.
There’s No Reason to Worry
In almost all cases, the discomfort in the post-treatment period is associated with trauma to the soft tissues surrounding the tooth, as well as directly related to its treatment. Complex anesthesia, the application of cofferdam during treatment, cleaning and filling root canals – all this creates micro-trauma. As a consequence, there may be a slight swelling and discomfort in the tooth and jaw. The recovery time in the mouth is very fast, so normally the discomfort goes away on its own within a few days. During the recovery period, an important condition is good oral hygiene, as well as following all the recommendations of the attending dentist.
When Does Jaw Pain After Anesthesia Merit a Visit to the Doctor?
If two to three days after the visit to the dentist the pain is not gone, spreads to the ear and throat, increasing symptoms of inflammation and no recovery of the soft tissues in the mouth – this is not the norm and you should see a doctor immediately. Jaw pain is a complex symptom in the body that requires immediate treatment.
- If the tooth extraction was complicated, the recovery of the tissues in the mouth takes much longer and requires more attention from both the doctor and the patient. A possible complication here is the suppuration of the postoperative wound, fracture or breakage of the jaw, and incomplete extraction of a part of the tooth. The most frequent difficulties during surgery arise during the extraction of wisdom teeth, due to their complex location in the bone. In the period after the removal of such teeth, swelling can spread to the throat and even the ear.
- Pain in the jaw after treatment can be associated with unskilled root canals. The doctor may have performed poor quality root canal cleaning, resulting in an increase in inflammation, or performed their filling with the withdrawal of the material outside the root into the bone.
- The state of the human immune system also plays a major role in the recovery from dental treatment. If the level of immunity is insufficient, the recovery process in the body slows down, and there is an increased risk of secondary infection during the postoperative period, the development of inflammatory diseases of the ear, throat and nose.
What to Do When Your Jaw Hurts After an Anesthesia?
Tooth extraction surgery is a serious trauma in the oral cavity. During tooth extraction, the integrity of a large number of blood vessels is compromised. Because of this, for the postoperative period, the occurrence of swelling of soft tissues both inside and outside the mouth is not uncommon reaction of our body. In addition to swelling, you may also experience weakness, pain in the jaw, and even an increase in body temperature. However, all of the above symptoms do not last more than three to four days, and their intensity decreases every day. If the symptoms do not subside within three days, you should see a dentist immediately. Here, it is very important to have a good quality follow-up examination and also, if necessary, perform an x-ray examination. During the appointment, the dentist will determine the cause of the abnormal symptoms and prescribe the appropriate treatment.