I hope not to bring to mind that caller from the movie The Truth About Cats and Dogs, who (as I recall) let his cat lick his face so long he developed a rash. As someone with five cats, however, it’s quite inevitable that I’ll be “kissed” occasionally. When licked on the cheek only by a cat (I have tested this; humans and dogs don’t have the same effect) my teeth on that side tingle very distinctly. This happened the other day by my newest cat, and the sensation was sufficiently acute that it would have been uncomfortable if extended.
Years ago I asked a dentist about this, and he gave me some vague mumbling about “nerve endings”. But wouldn’t it then happen if a human or a dog licked my cheek? Is there a better answer?
I hoping that someone will have an answer to this. I have a small mole (top right quadrant of my torso just below the diaphragm) that when I lightly scratch it, I get a pronounced tingling sensation where my ulnar nerve of my right arm passes through the elbow notch. And no, I’m not moving my right arm or doing anything with it.
I guess I’m just wired weird.
Maybe because cats have rough tongues and dogs and humans don’t?
As for nerves; it’s my understanding that the head is crammed so full of nerves so close together that “cross talk” between nerves isn’t uncommon. So, you get an earache and maybe your teeth hurt too even though they are fine, for example. It could be something similar going on; the cat stimulates nerves in your cheek, which happen to pass too near nerves from your teeth.
Ah, that makes sense, thank you. (in the interest of science, I got my bunny to sniffle me on the cheek earlier. Nada. But, duh, of course I should have realized rough tongues have something to do with it.)
Do all of your teeth tingle, or just the pointy ones? A lot of times people have issues when their canines get too close to felines.