Oral ulceration with bone exposure caused by percutaneous mental nerve block: A case report

The mental nerve block is one of the peripheral branches of the trigeminal nerve block used to treat idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia. Complications of mental nerve block include nerve injury, intravascular injection, and hematoma; however, reports describing oral ulceration are rare. A case of oral ulceration caused by mental nerve block is reported. An 84-year-old female was referred to the authors’ department with the chief complaint of oral ulceration in the left mandible. She had a medical history of idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia and was regularly treated with mental nerve block under local anesthesia in the anesthesiology department of the authors’ hospital. It was suspected that mental nerve block was the cause of the oral ulceration because the patient was treated immediately before ulceration occurred. The mental nerve block was discontinued after her first visit and the oral ulceration disappeared two months later. Subsequently, oral ulceration did not recur, although the mental nerve block was resumed.