Question about dental injections. Is this normal? Advice please.........

[BettyBatShapedSpaghetti]

I had emergency dental work yesterday morning. I had 2 injections (I'm a bit of a wuss dental phobic so am used to having at least 2 injections each time).

A few hours after my face/jawline swelled up a bit and is still swollen today. I've not had this happen before although admittedly other ones have been further back in the mouth. This was for a bottom tooth about half way back. One of the injections did make me wince a lot, despite the numbing gel.

Its tender to touch but not painful as such.

Is this normal or is this an abscess starting or something??

no advice betty but i was at then dentist yesterday and had to have a filling - no injection thought cos I'm hard as nails me!!

are you nhs? as I was abit shocked at the £46 bill and wondered how much would it of cost private.

nhs here too thank goodness.

Can't believe you don't have injections furball . I lie there white as a sheet, shaking, gripping the nearest inanimate object during a check-up so you can imagine what I'm like during a filling.

well you know the saying 'no sense without feeling.....' I think it applies in this case

.....at least you haven't got a jawline like Desperate Dan though, which is what mine currently resembles (on one side anyway)

you need to flag down comoveneer - but not sure thats how you spell it.

There is also someone else who is a dental nurse

is it noticeably swollen to others?
If so phone your dentist. This is not a side effect of local anaesthetics.

I was hoping one of them would be around.

I've got to go out in a bit so will keep this bumped til then and hopefully someone "in the know" will see it.

forgot about you Jasper, although you don't seem to be about much these days?

Ring the surgery, it isn't common but does happen...could be a mild reaction to anaesthetic, or perhaps they hit a nerve. If it isn't throbbing I would imagine it's not an abscess - you would know about that before it swelled up, iyswim!
Not a dental nurse, just a regular patient

jasper -I'd probably say its noticable to others if I was to point it out first.

I wondered if it was swelling because of the location of the injections? Being further forward

Sometimes my mouth has swollen after work, sometimes it just 'feels' swollen. It always goes down eventually...

It might be that the injection was put in to a ligament around the tooth for extra numbing rather than the gum and that the ligament is bruised hence the tenderness.

I have to have these because I metabolise the anaesthetic very quickly and my denstist did 7 of these to make me numb last time. He told me they were £50 per shot and the stuff that they use for bone surgery!

7 ! Did your face swell after that or was it more around the gum?

My swelling seems to be in the face/ lower jaw line rather than the gum itself IYSWIM

Thanks. Got to go out now - back for any more advice in a couple of hours..........

bump.....(literally)

bump for evening folk

I work for a dentist..I would definitely recommend you call them and ask their advice about it..sounds to me like they have just nicked something maybe or bruised you but worth checking out...

Although..what was the treatment you had? After root treatment we always advise people that they will be tender and sore for a day or two due to the dentist poking around and scraping against bone, and to take anti-inflammatory painkillers like Nurofen.

mazmack -it seems I had a crack in a filled tooth (I think thats what he said? I was so terrified I might not have listened properly).

He "sealed" it which involved drilling etc. but said it may not solve it, to give it a few days to settle and come back if necessary as it may need root canal work.

He knows how petrified I am and gave me 2 injections, one of which did hurt more than usual. I wondered if its from this one that hurt? Did he inject a different part of the mouth maybe?

I think the swelling may have reduced since I took some Nurofen at lunchtime actually

Hmm..I would give him a ring and explain about the pain and swelling....

I think you should get it checked out.

It isn't impossible for swelling to occur after a local, but I have not heard of it happening the next day. I'd say all you should be feeling now is a little pain/tenderness in the area of the local.

Thanks everyone.

I've taken your advice and phoned the surgery. He wants me to pop in so he can take a quick look just to put my mind at rest (especially as we're going away this weekend so the last thing I want is for something to flare-up while we're away).

How are you now Betty?

Well I went to see him and he said it was probably because of the location of the injection. Apparently theres a (can't remember what he said? blood vessel? or something) at that point in the gum which could have been nicked/damaged causing a haematoma.

Anyway he prescribed some antibiotics to rule out an infection as he knows we're going away tomorrow for a long weekend.

The swelling has gone down a bit today anyway so not looking quite so much like a lop-sided Desperate Dan any more

have a great time - ar you going far?