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Case Study Of Bell's Palsy

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Alternating Bell’sPalsyFollowingStaged Dental Procedures
Abstract

Facial nerve palsy can be caused by specific disease processes such as cerebrovascular events, infections and trauma. The lower motor neuron facial nerve paralysis which has no specific identifiable causation is termed Bell’s Palsy.
Bell’s palsy has been reported to occur following dental anaesthesia and dental related procedures. We report a 50 year old patient with ‘alternating’ facial nerve palsy (occurring on opposite sides, on two or more separate occasions) after two consecutive dental procedures.

Key words: Bell’sPalsy, dental anaesthesia, alternating Alternating Bell’s Palsy following a staged Dental Procedure

Introduction
Facial nerve palsy can be …show more content…

She had received an alveolar nerve block for the procedure. At presentation, she had facial asymmetry, right sided facial numbness and inability to shut her right eyelid when blinking. She also reported difficulty in chewing her food on the right side. According to her, these symptoms first started some 12 hours after the dental procedure. Madam A did not have any history of Diabetes Mellitus
A diagnosis of Bell’s Palsy was made and she was treated with prednisolone, acyclovir and given a follow up appointment with the Neurology Specialist Clinic. Three weeks later her symptoms and signs had resolved.
Six weeks later, Madam A presented to the ED once again with left sided Bell’s Palsy. She reported that she had undergone another dental procedure ( the second of a two staged procedure) to the same right sided molar region. A telephone consult with her dental officer revealed that her anaesthesia had been straightforward and there were no complications during or just after the anaesthesia, observed at the dental clinic.
She was once more prescribed a course of prednisolone and acyclovir and given the appropriate advice and follow up. 3 months later her symptoms had resolved completely with no residual

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