If you have a weird feeling in mouth, you might experience it as a loss of sensation or some type of feeling in your mouth. This can happen with your tongue, gums, or lips. You can have a tingling or prickling feeling on your lips or on your mouth.
The medical term for numbness or tingling anywhere in the body particularly is called paresthesia. It mostly involves pressure, irritation, or sometimes damage to the nerves.
A numb or weird mouth by itself is mostly nothing serious and one may not even need treatment. In some other cases, treatment depends on the cause of the weird feeling in the mouth.
what you will read next :
What are the causes of weird feeling in mouth?
- Bite, burn, and acidity
Biting the tongue, lip, or the side of the mouth while chewing food can lead to a weird feeling like mouth numbness. Eating or drinking something too hot or too spicy can also cause mouth to get numb. Having a cavity in the tooth can also cause numbness in part of the mouth, this happens as the nerves in the mouth or lips may be slightly damaged or sometimes inflamed.
Treatment : Numbness which is due to a minor injury in the mouth or on the lips will go away on its own as the affected area heals , it may take a few days or even less. However for a severe injury or burn, one should seek medical attention. If one feels he has a cavity, he should see a dentist.
- B-12 deficiency
Not getting enough vitamin B-12 or folic acid that is vitamin B-9 can trigger a number of symptoms including weird symptoms in mouth like mouth numbness, pain, and burning. It can also lead to mouth ulcers. This thing happens because these vitamins in particular are needed to make red blood cells, which carry oxygen and energize the body. B vitamins are very important and also for nerve health as well.
Treatment :To treat vitamin B-12 or folic acid deficiency is very important as if it goes untreated, it can lead to permanent nerve damage. Concerned doctor or nutritionist can recommend foods which are rich in vitamin B-12, folic acid, and other B vitamins. And a person may likely need daily supplements of these vitamins to get them to normal level. In very severe deficiencies , the doctor may prescribe vitamin B-12 injections
- Low blood sugar
Diabetes and low blood sugar that is hypoglycemia can lead to a many things including mouth and lip numbness. This can happen as very low blood sugar levels affect the brain. The nerves which work together to send signals from the mouth, tongue, and lips may be temporarily damaged or may not be functioning.
Other symptoms of low blood sugar include following:
- sweating
- hunger
- chills
- shaking
- anxiety
Treatment: Drop in blood sugar is treated typically first by drinking a sugary drink or eating a sugary meal. If one has been diagnosed with diabetes, the doctor may also change the medications to make sure they’re not too high and lowering the blood sugar too much. Few changes in the diet to include more fiber-rich foods which help balance blood sugar levels will also help.
- Cancer and damaged blood vessels
Cancers like of Mouth and throat can trigger a number of symptoms which include weird feeling in mouth to like numbness. This numb feeling may be throughout the mouth and lip area, or sometimes only in patchy areas.
This happens when cancer cells lead to nerve or other vessel damage in the mouth.
Other symptoms of mouth cancer include following :
- soreness in the tongue can be a symptom
- Irritation in the mouth area
- red or white patches in the mouth or on lips
- thickened spots on tongue or inside the mouth
- Soreness in the jaw
- difficulty chewing or swallowing
Treatment: Treatment for this includes chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery.
- Herpes
The herpes exists in many forms the oral herpes is an infection which is caused by a virus called herpes simplex virus. The virus causes weird feeling in and around the mouth , as leads to painful sores on the lips mostly, sometimes around the gums, tongue, and roof of the mouth, and also inside the cheeks. There can be other symptoms too like fever and muscle aches. The herpes simplex virus only affects human beings. The mouth painful sores most commonly occur in children who are from age group of 1 to 2 years, however they can affect people at any age and at any time of the year. Acyclovir is the medicine usually given for this.
- Bell’s palsy
The signs and symptoms of Bell’s palsy include the sudden weakness in the facial muscles which can make the mouth feel weird. In most of the cases, the weakness is temporary and also significantly improves within few weeks. This muscle weakness makes the half of the face appear to droop on one side . The smile is one-sided, and even the eye on that side resists closing. Bell’s palsy is also called acute peripheral facial palsy with unknown cause, it can occur at any age .
- Zinc deficiency
Zinc deficiency can be defined either as insufficient zinc to meet the needs of the human body, or as a serum zinc level below the normal level . But since a decrease in the serum concentration of zinc is only detectable after long-term o after severe depletion, serum zinc is not a reliable biomarker for zinc status. The deficiency can cause symptoms that include increased rates of diarrhea, it also affects the skin and the brain and central nervous system, immune system. Zinc deficiency can cause skin diseases manifest like acne, eczema, and , scaling skin , thin and sparse hair. This deficiency can also manifest as non-specific oral ulceration, or white tongue coating. Cab cause weird feeling in or around the mouth also rarely it can cause angular cheilitis that is the sores at the corners of the mouth.
- Burning mouth syndrome
Burning mouth syndrome ( BMS ) is very common in middle-age and elderly women, especially during menopause period. Female gender is almost seven times more likely to have BMS than men. It typically causes a burning or a weird sore sensation on the tip and sides of the tongue, the roof of mouth, and on lips. It can also lead to a numb mouth.
Treatment : The cause of burning mouth syndrome is still unknown . But this is thought to be a type of nerve pain, but according to few studies it can be due to changes in level of hormones or vitamins and minerals in the body. Medications may help sometimes which include alphalipoic acid and antidepressants.
- Localized allergic reaction
Allergic reactions can cause numbness and tingling in the lips and in mouth , which may be due to breathing in a pollen or eating a food that one is allergic to. Oral allergy syndrome, also called pollen-fruit allergy syndrome, is when a person becomes allergic to pollen on a fruit or vegetable, as well as the fruit or vegetable itself. People who have seasonal allergies are more likely to have this syndrome. Children or we can say young people are less likely to get it. These type of allergies only causes symptoms in and around the mouth and numbness is a
local allergic reaction which means that the immune system overreacts and starts to think the food or other substance is harmful.
Allergy symptoms are then triggered, like following:
- Swelling
- Runny nose
- Sneezing
Treatment ; However most people have mild symptoms that go away on their own and don’t require specific treatment. Avoiding the specific food allergen mostly gets rid of the mouth numbness and other symptoms. The concerned doctor may prescribe anti-allergy medicines if needed.
- Seizures
Seizures which happen due to epilepsy or brain tumors may lead to a weird numb mouth which can affect the tongue, gums, and lips. This type of serious conditions will lead to other symptoms in addition to mouth numbness.
Treatment : There are some drugs or surgery to treat the cause of the seizures will help to stop or reduce other symptoms including weird mouth numbness.
- Signs of stroke
Stroke can temporarily block blood flow to the brain which can cause a number of serious signs and symptoms. Stroke can lead to damage to the nerves that carry signals to the face, mouth, tongue, and throat which may in return cause your mouth to go numb. However stroke typically causes more than one symptom . Facial symptoms may include following:
- Drooping on one side of the face and mouth
- Numbness on one side of the face or mouth
- Slurred speech
- Blurred vision
- Difficulty swallowing
It’s always important to remember stroke is a medical emergency. Anyone who’s having a stroke must get urgent medical care at all costs as it’s life threatening. There are some stroke symptoms that clear up after some time but others may be permanent. Physical therapy can help to improve some stroke symptoms like muscle weakness on one or both sides of the body.
- Medications
Some medications or treatments that may cause weird mouth sensations or numbness are following :
- Bisphosphonate therapy
- Chemotherapy
- Radiation
- Any type of surgery in the mouth or on the face, head, or neck
When to see a doctor for weird feeling in mouth?
- Consult a doctor or a dentist if you have mouth numbness which lasts longer than a couple of hours or continues for several days.
- Tell the doctor if one has any other symptoms in the mouth or anywhere in the body. In most cases weird feeling of mouth on its own is not a sign of a serious illness.
- The doctor will typically check the inside of the mouth which can involve a very particular careful examination of the lips, tongue, gums, roof, and sides of the mouth and throat.
- If the patient has any patches on the lips, tongue, or anywhere else in the mouth, a biopsy may be needed and this process involves numbing the area and removing a tiny piece of the tissue then the sample is sent to a lab to be analysed.
- One may also need a blood test to find out if this numbness is linked to a change in level of hormones, blood sugar levels, or other low levels of nutrients.
- If one has a chronic condition like diabetes, the doctor will check to see how well the blood sugar levels are balanced.
- In very few cases, especially if one has other symptoms, the doctor may recommend a scan of the brain, head, face, or throat. This will mostly show if there are any lesions or tumors in the mouth, throat, or brain
Takeaway
A mouth with a weird or number feeling is usually not anything serious. Consult a doctor or dentist if the mouth numbness lasts longer than a couple of hours or days. Other associated symptoms and an physical examination by a doctor can help to identify the cause. For common, or minor mouth injuries, conservative treatment at home is often all that’s needed nothing serious over there.