Without any advertising or promotion, this blog has attracted a sizeable audience...nearly 23,000 page views of the home page alone, and spawned 2 Facebook groups - and yet, this injury is supposedly a highly random "one in a million" occurrence.
Every day in every dental office somewhere, a patient walks in fine, and walks out with nerve damage. It's happening in the US, in the UK, and Australia, so you're not safe just because you live in a highly developed, English-speaking country.
Dentists and oral surgeons either act like this isn't that big a deal, you'll get over it, or worse, deny any culpability or feign ignorance (like my dentist - did I mention he attended NYU? Do we really believe they taught nothing about lingual and aveolar nerves there?). Some posters here report that their dentists actually think "it's a good thing" to hit the nerve. What's good about it, I'm still waiting to find out...
The dental industry seemingly runs amuck without any training on the injuries they are causing. I find that really hard to believe. However, a search of the ADA.org website (American Dental Association) for "lingual nerve" had only 9 results, none of which provide much depth in this area, and all of which were from 2010-present.
Does this indicate the problem is increasing in recent years and, if so, why? As painful as it has been for me to deal with, how excruciating would it be to watch your child go through this, and be unable to do anything to help them?
I can't do it alone, but with your help, we can take action so that this doesn't happen to our children. I'm asking everyone to help me get some attention for this cause.
I'm just a girl who started a blog, that I'm happy ended up helping lots of people. But I have no idea how to take it to the next level. If you (or someone you know) has any experience with the media, with proposing bills to Congress, advocacy, law, petition signing, non-profits, campaigning, fundraising for school, even just asking for the help you need...please inbox me at our Facebook page or respond below with your email address. You can find me on FB as Jane Fisher.
I have committed to keep this blog going to help others; if it's helped you, I'm asking for you to give back.
Thank you!
xo Jane
