I went to a dentist because my lower jaw 1st molar feels a bit numb. He checked twice (without X-ray) and found nothing's wrong and commented my gum is healthy (no swelling, no exposed gum). Since I was at the dentist, also done the teeth scaling/ polishing. Was given 2 tubes of Colgate sensitive toothpaste as he suspected my teeth is sensitive.

After using the toothpaste for 3 weeks, the numb is still there, slightly improved, but the numb is still there. I have a "Periodontal Sickle Scaler" I put it in between the 1st & 2nd molar, at a certain angle I can feel the numbness came from 1st molar.

I even try to eat popsicle, and purposely bite using that sensitive tooth, but no obvious pain/ numbness, just noticed that part is slightly "more numb" the other parts.

What could be wrong?

Thanks for your professional opinion.

The very slight numb started weeks after Chinese New Year, last for about 3 weeks before I scheduled an appointment with a dentist. The numb is so slight that I tend to forget about it.

Comparing left/ right side, the feeling is the same unless I purposely use dental instrument to dig it, at certain angle I can feel the numb again, & the slight numbness will persist for few hours, then I tend to forgot about the numb. In short, I can 'reproduce' the numb feeling by digging it using a dental tool, but hot/ cold foods or biting hard foods don't cause the numb. So weird.

The dentist said my oral hygiene and gum health is okay, he thought that my last scaling was 6 months ago based on how bad the tartar is but in fact the last scaling was 3-4 years ago.

Nothing stuck there. In fact, I stop using dental floss 2 years ago, but use the sickle scaler to 'floss' in between teeth and occasionally scrap off any visible tartar (i developed tartar easily maybe because I take Calcium supplement regularly). That's how I found out the numb in the first place!