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A numb lower lip or chin, with no dental work behind it

  • A dental injection wears off in hours, not weeks
  • The nerve runs inside your jawbone before it reaches the skin
  • A nerve does not go numb for no reason
  • This is the one on this site we would not tell you to watch for 2 weeks
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A consulting room with an empty viewing panel

No dental work to explain it?

Tell us when it started and whether you have had any dental treatment. The first consultation is free, and this is one we will try to see quickly.

No referral needed. If a recent extraction explains it, you will be told that and told what to expect.

1Nerve, running inside the jawbone
17Oncologists on the panel
10Centres across Hyderabad
41Locations across two states

Start here

Most numb lips have something obvious behind them

There is usually an event you can point at, and it happened recently. These 4 cover almost everything that turns out to have a plain explanation.

A clock on a pale wall showing hours passing
COMMONEST

A dental injection, hours ago

Numbness from an injection is complete, it covers a wide area, and it goes entirely within a few hours. That is what an injection does. It does not last days.

A cold compress folded on a kitchen table
WELL RECOGNISED

A lower back tooth taken out

Removing a lower wisdom tooth can bruise the nerve on the way past. Numbness afterwards is a known outcome and it usually eases over weeks or months.

A plain tablet strip on a pale surface
LESS COMMON

A large infection near the nerve

A big abscess can press on the nerve as it swells. The numbness eases as the infection is treated and the pressure comes off.

A cricket ball resting on dry ground
OBVIOUS WHEN IT HAPPENS

A blow to the jaw

A fall, a ball, a road accident. You know when it happened, and it is usually accompanied by pain and bruising rather than numbness alone.

All 4 share one thing: an event you can name, followed by numbness, in that order. If you cannot name the event, this page is really about the next section.

What is different

3 things that mean the nerve needs explaining

None of these means cancer. They mean a nerve has stopped working and nothing accounts for it, and that is a question with an answer worth finding.

An empty pinboard with nothing pinned to it
THE MAIN ONE

No dental work at all

No injection, no extraction, no infection, no knock. Numbness that simply appeared is the version that most needs a look, and it is also the version people most often ignore.

A thinning tear-off calendar on a desk
THE CLOCK

It has lasted beyond what fits

An injection wears off the same day. If numbness has outlasted the thing being blamed for it, then that thing is not what is causing it.

A hand raised to one side of the face
THE PATTERN

One side, lower lip and chin

Numbness that covers the lower lip and chin on one side and stops at the middle follows one particular nerve exactly. That precision is itself useful information.

The reason this section is shorter on reassurance than the others on this site is simple. A nerve does not go numb for no reason, so there is always something to find. Finding it early is easier than finding it late.

Work out the timing

An injection wears off the same day

This is the one thing to settle before anything else, and you already know the answer. Count back to the last dental treatment you had, and compare it with how long you have been numb.

Numb for hoursAn injection. Entirely expected, and it will be gone by the evening.
Numb since an extractionRecognised, and usually improving. Tell whoever took the tooth out, especially if it is not.
Numb with nothing to blameOr numb far longer than the treatment explains. This is the one to book now.

Naming a dental appointment from 3 months ago is the commonest way this gets explained away, and it is how the months go. If the numbness has outlasted the injection by more than a day, the injection is not the reason.

What else to notice

3 things that make the picture more specific

Any of these alongside the numbness is worth saying on the phone rather than saving for the appointment.

A stone resting on folded cloth
THE STRONGEST ONE

A swelling in the same jaw

A jaw swelling with numbness on the same side is a far more specific picture than either alone. The gum or jaw swelling page covers that side of it.

Hard food left uneaten on a plate
EASY TO MISS

A tooth that has loosened

One or two teeth loosening in the area that has gone numb, with the rest of the mouth fine. People blame gum disease, and gum disease does not usually work in one small area.

A cup of tea with a drip down the side
YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED

Dribbling or not feeling a cup

Tea running down the outside of a cup you did not feel, or food escaping that side. Small practical signs that the numb area is larger than you assumed.

Numbness with no dental work behind it?Say when it started and what dental treatment you have had. That decides how soon you are seen.
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What happens

4 steps, and the X-ray does much of the work

The nerve runs inside the bone, so the bone is what needs looking at. None of this is difficult and it happens in one visit.

A tray with a wisp of cotton wool and a pen, used to map where feeling has been lost
FIRST

The numb area mapped

Someone works out exactly where feeling has been lost and where it returns, and writes it down. That map is the most useful thing in your file.

A jaw and neck examined by hand from behind
ALWAYS

The jaw and neck felt by hand

Along the jawline and down both sides of the neck. It takes a minute and it often decides how urgent this is.

A lit viewing panel with nothing on it
THE USEFUL ONE

An X-ray of the jaw

This shows the bone the nerve runs through, which is the part nobody can see or feel. Bring any old X-ray you have, because a comparison is worth a great deal.

An open notebook and a pen, where findings are written
THEN

What was found, explained

Including if the answer is a recent extraction after all, which does happen. You are told plainly and told what to expect next.

Questions

8 questions people ask, and the honest answers

Starting with the one that explains why this page reads differently from the others.

01

Why does this matter more than other numbness?

Because of where the nerve runs. The nerve supplying your lower lip and chin travels inside the jawbone before it reaches the skin. It does not stop working on its own. Something along that path has to be pressing on it or interrupting it, and finding out what is the whole point of the visit.

02

I had a dental injection. Could that be it?

Only if it was very recent. An injection numbs you for a few hours and then wears off completely. If you are still numb the next day, and certainly if you are still numb a week later, the injection is not the explanation. It is a comfortable one, which is why it gets used for months.

03

I had a lower tooth out. Is numbness normal after that?

It can be, and it usually improves. Taking out a lower back tooth can bruise the nerve, and a numb lip afterwards is a recognised outcome. It normally eases over weeks to months. Tell whoever took the tooth out, and if it is not improving at all, say so.

04

How long should I wait before getting it checked?

Do not give this one 2 weeks. Most of this cluster comes with a waiting period. This symptom does not. Numbness with no dental work behind it should be looked at now rather than watched, and that is not the same as saying it is serious.

05

It is only a small patch and it does not hurt. Surely that is reassuring?

Not here, and this is the part that catches people. Painless and small are reassuring for most things. For a nerve they are neither. A nerve reports pressure by going quiet, not by hurting, so a small painless numb patch is the nerve doing exactly what it does when something is in its way.

06

Could it be something other than my jaw?

Yes, and that is part of what gets checked. Nerves can be affected further back than the jaw, and some general conditions affect them too. That is why the examination looks beyond the mouth and why an X-ray of the jaw alone is not always the end of it.

07

What will they actually do?

Map it, feel the jaw and neck, and take a picture of the bone. Someone works out exactly which area has lost feeling and writes it down, feels along the jaw and both sides of the neck, and arranges an X-ray of the jaw. That combination answers most of the question in one visit.

08

I also have a swelling in my jaw. Does that change things?

Yes, mention both together when you call. A jaw swelling and a numb lip on the same side is a much more specific picture than either on its own. The gum or jaw swelling page covers the swelling side of it.

Where

Seen at all 10 Hyderabad centres

The mapping and the examination run anywhere. Where a jaw X-ray is needed, that is arranged from the same visit rather than as a separate trip.

Beyond the city, 31 more towns across 16 districts of Telangana and north Andhra Pradesh. Ask for the closest when you call.

Free ConsultationSeen Quickly

If nothing explains it, this is not one to watch.

Give us your name, number and where you live, and say when the numbness started and what dental treatment you have had. Bring any X-ray you already have.

Toll free 1800 202 8726 · No referral needed · Telugu, Hindi and English

Numb lip with no dental work behind it? Say when it started · first consultation free

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