Chin Implant Nerve Pain

Q: Dr. Eppley, I had a chin implant put in twelve years ago and I have had intermittent pain and numbness from what I believe was a severed nerve. I read a post that you wrote for another patient’s question that sounded like he or she was in exactly the same situation. You referred to it as neuroma. Can you fix this? If a virtual consultation is better in this situation then I am open to that. Thank you.

A: Being this late out from a mental nerve injury and possible neuroma formation can only be treated one of two ways; 1) neuroma resection and direct nerve repair or 2) neuroma resection and a cross-mental nerve graft. The latter would likely more effective at this late date after the event. Whether either one of these nerve treatment approaches would be reasonable depends on the severity of your nerve symptoms. With symptoms that are intermittent in nature, at the least you should get a 3D CT scan and confirm the position of the wing of the chin amount in that side. I would suspect it is right up against the nerve. With mild symptoms simple nerve decompression can be tried by getting the implant off the nerve for your chin implant nerve pain.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana