A lingual nerve injury can occur in seconds during a dental procedure and leave you with permanent consequences — tongue numbness, burning nerve pain, loss of taste, and difficulty speaking. If this happened to you following a dental procedure anywhere in Tennessee, you may have a dental malpractice claim. The Higgins Firm represents lingual nerve injury victims across all of Tennessee, from Nashville and Memphis to Knoxville and Chattanooga, and every community in between.
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The lingual nerve is a branch of the trigeminal nerve that runs through the lower jaw and controls sensation in the front two-thirds of the tongue, including touch, temperature, and taste. Because it passes in close proximity to the roots of the lower wisdom teeth, the lingual nerve is particularly vulnerable during dental procedures. Even a brief error in technique — excessive force during extraction, improper implant placement, or a misplaced anesthesia injection — can cause injury that persists for months or permanently.
Common symptoms of a lingual nerve injury include numbness or a persistent “dead” feeling on one side of the tongue, tingling or pins-and-needles sensations, burning or sharp neuropathic pain, altered or absent taste, difficulty speaking clearly, and trouble controlling saliva or swallowing. If these symptoms have persisted following a dental procedure, do not assume they will resolve on their own. Some injuries do improve with time, but those involving significant nerve trauma require prompt medical evaluation and may justify a legal claim against the treating dentist.
Lower wisdom tooth extractions are the most frequent cause of lingual nerve injury in Tennessee. The nerve sits directly beside the roots of the lower third molars, making it vulnerable to laceration, bruising, or stretching when a dentist uses excessive force or fails to use cone beam CT imaging to understand the nerve’s exact position before surgery. Dental implants placed in the lower posterior jaw without adequate pre-surgical imaging can also injure the lingual nerve, sometimes causing patients to feel an immediate electric-shock sensation during the procedure.
Root canal procedures on lower molars can cause lingual nerve injury when sealant material is overfilled or instruments extend beyond the root apex. Inferior alveolar nerve block injections — the standard numbing technique for lower jaw dental work — pass near the lingual nerve and can traumatize or chemically damage it if delivered with an incorrect angle or excessive force. When a Tennessee dentist fails to follow proper protocols during any of these procedures and that failure causes your injury, you may have a viable dental malpractice claim.
Tennessee has specific and demanding procedural requirements for dental malpractice claims that do not apply in other personal injury cases. Understanding these requirements before taking any action — including speaking with the dentist’s insurance company — is essential to protecting your rights.
The statute of limitations for dental malpractice in Tennessee is one year from the date you discovered, or in the exercise of reasonable care should have discovered, that you suffered an injury caused by your dentist’s negligence. This is governed by T.C.A. § 29-26-116. Tennessee also imposes a three-year statute of repose, meaning that regardless of the discovery rule, claims generally cannot be filed more than three years after the date of the negligent act.
Before filing a lawsuit, Tennessee law requires that you provide formal written notice to the defendant dentist at least 60 days in advance, along with a HIPAA-compliant medical records authorization. This pre-suit notice requirement is governed by T.C.A. § 29-26-121. Additionally, Tennessee requires that your attorney file a certificate of good faith at or shortly after the time suit is filed, confirming that a qualified dental expert has reviewed the case and believes a breach of the standard of care occurred. This requirement is governed by T.C.A. § 29-26-122. Failure to satisfy either requirement can result in dismissal of your case.
Tennessee caps non-economic damages — pain and suffering, emotional distress, and similar losses — at $750,000 in most cases and $1,000,000 in cases involving catastrophic injury. Economic damages, including medical bills, lost wages, and future care costs, are not subject to any cap.
Many lingual nerve injury patients spend weeks or months being told by their dentist that the numbness or pain will resolve on its own. During that time, Tennessee’s one-year statute of limitations is running. The discovery rule provides some protection — your clock may begin when you discovered or should have discovered that the injury was caused by negligence, rather than on the date of the procedure itself. However, this protection is not unlimited, and the three-year statute of repose creates a hard cutoff regardless of when discovery occurred.
If you are unsure when your clock started, contact The Higgins Firm immediately. We will analyze your specific timeline during a free consultation and advise you on whether you still have time to pursue a claim. Do not wait, and do not assume that your dentist’s repeated assurances that your symptoms will improve have extended your legal deadline.
To succeed on a lingual nerve injury malpractice claim in Tennessee, your attorney must establish four elements: that the dentist owed you a duty of care, that the dentist breached that duty by failing to meet the accepted standard of care, that the breach directly caused your lingual nerve injury, and that you suffered compensable damages as a result. Expert testimony is required in virtually all dental malpractice cases to establish the applicable standard of care and how it was violated. The Higgins Firm works with a network of oral surgeons, neurologists, and dental specialists across Tennessee who evaluate our clients’ cases and testify on their behalf.
Signing a consent form before your procedure does not prevent you from filing a malpractice claim. Consent forms acknowledge known risks of a properly performed procedure — they do not excuse a dentist from performing that procedure negligently. If your dentist failed to specifically warn you that lingual nerve injury was a known risk of your procedure, that failure may itself constitute a separate claim for lack of informed consent.
A successful dental malpractice claim in Tennessee can recover both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages include all past and future medical expenses related to the injury — neurologist visits, nerve repair surgery, medications, and physical therapy — as well as lost wages and any reduction in your future earning capacity caused by the injury. Non-economic damages, capped at $750,000 in most cases, cover pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life.
For lingual nerve injury victims whose symptoms are severe or permanent, the combined value of economic and non-economic damages can be substantial. An attorney at The Higgins Firm will evaluate the full scope of your losses and pursue maximum compensation on your behalf.
The Higgins Firm has offices in Nashville and Chattanooga and represents lingual nerve injury clients throughout all 95 Tennessee counties. Whether your procedure took place in Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Murfreesboro, Franklin, Clarksville, or any other Tennessee community, we can represent you. We handle every aspect of your case so you can focus on your recovery.
Your consultation is completely free, and you pay nothing unless we win. Call The Higgins Firm today to find out whether you have a lingual nerve injury claim in Tennessee.
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