However, typically the numbing effect of the local anesthesia administered during a cavity-filling procedure should wear off within 1 to 3 hours. While under the numbing effect, you might find it difficult to chew, bite, or in speaking properly. Not to worry, though; these effects should whether off in a few hours.
Move Your Tongue from Side to Side
Moving your tongue from side to side can help the numbness go away by stimulating your facial nerves. You can do this for up to five minutes. This will help the numbness dissipate more quickly so you don't have to wait around with a stinging or itching sensation in your mouth.
You should wait at least 24 hours before eating solid foods again after you have had a filling. Since your mouth will be numb from the anaesthetic, you may not feel anything from the affected area during this period.
Usually, novocaine will numb your tooth for about 1-2 hours. But that doesn't mean the numbness immediately subsidies after that. The effects of novocaine can last for 3-5 more hours after you leave the dental office. Don't have an additional 3-5 hours to wait until you regain feeling in your lips and face?
Dentists recommend patients who have had tooth filling to wait at least 2 hours before they resume eating anything. Even then, you should avoid very hard or sticky foods. Chewing a pizza requires greater effort by your teeth, especially when you're eating chicken or beef pizza.
The Ins and Outs of Eating with a Filling
Still, your dentist might recommend that you wait at least two hours before eating because your cheeks and gums might be a little numb from the anesthetic. If you have a metal amalgam filling, you'll have to wait a little longer before eating — typically a full 24 hours.
The numbing effect and its duration will vary from patient to patient, and it might not be an exact science. However, typically the numbing effect of the local anesthesia administered during a cavity-filling procedure should wear off within 1 to 3 hours.
Warm Compress. Applying heat to the skin helps increase blood flow, and more blood to the injection site and numbed nerves may help reverse the side effects of novocaine faster than doing nothing. Try placing a moist, warm compress to the affected area for up to 20 minutes.
Once the numbing agent has worn off, these feelings will go away. But, in the following days and weeks, a person may notice some new sensations as they adjust to the new filling. Sensitivity in the filled tooth or area around it is one of the most common occurrences during this time.
With most local anaesthetics, your tooth will be numb for 2-3 hours, while your lips and tongue will be numb for 3-5 hours after the time of injection. As the blood flow carries away the anaesthetic from the injection site to be metabolized or broken down, the numb feeling will gradually fade away.
Avoid eating hard and sticky items
Foods such as candies, caramels, jerky, tough meats, or hard nuts may damage the newly filled tooth. It is better to eat soft foods, such as eggs, yogurt, pudding, or smoothies for a day or so after the procedure.
Don't hesitate to brush your teeth or floss after a filling.
Did you know that you don't have to wait to brush your teeth or floss after a dental filling? As long as you brush gently and floss carefully around the tooth, you should be able to keep the area clean as usual.
It is caused by the use of anesthesia or novocaine, which numbs the area around the teeth and gums. This sensation can last for a few hours after leaving the dentist, but it will eventually wear off. Some people may experience longer-term numbness, which could last for a day or two.
In the rare case your numbing doesn't wear off several hour after your dental procedure, contact your dentist as soon as possible. They can take a close look at your mouth and determine why the numbing is still present. Additionally, they can make recommendations on how to resolve the numbing.
Normal Pain
Soreness of your mouth is very common after having a cavity filled, especially around the area of the affected tooth. It is also common to experience jaw pain. This happens because you've had to hold your jaw open for an extended period of time while the dentist works their magic.
The numbness from your local anesthetic may last a few hours and perhaps as long as 24 hours. In very rare situations, the effect of lidocaine can last up to two days.
Some of the signs of nerve damage after receiving a dental injection may include: A lack of sensation in the area treated even after the anaesthetic should have worn off. Numbness or lack of feeling in the tongue, gums, cheeks, jaw or face. A pulling or tingly sensation in these areas.
OraVerse®, is the first product of its kind to rapidly and effectively reverse the effects of local dental anesthetics. Typically, anesthetics can cause numbness for 3-5 hours after a procedure. OraVerse® can cut that time in half!
Dentists generally advise patients not to eat or drink anything for the first hour after the filling is placed. A full 24 hours need to pass before the person attempts to eat hard foods. People who opt for composite fillings are often cleared to eat whatever they want right after the procedure.
As sensation returns, you may feel some tingling. Avoid chewing on that side for a while, partly to protect your filling but also to prevent accidentally biting yourself. For up to a week after your tooth is filled, it may be more sensitive to cold and heat.
Any sensitivity from a tooth filling should be expected to go away quickly, at least within two to four weeks. But just because it should not hurt or be sensitive, doesn't mean that it can't sometimes occur.
However, most dentists will recommend that patients wait at least an hour, or even a full day before smoking again as the gums and teeth can still be sensitive after placement of a dental filling.
The short answer is: yes, but you should avoid it. Technically you can eat ice cream after getting a filling, but that doesn't mean that you should! Depending on the type of material used in the filling and the severity of the cavity filled, your teeth may be sensitive for days to a week after the procedure.