For those who have had Root Canals

[PotatoChip]

On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate the pain? 1 being "no problem, it was a breeze" and 10 being "excruciating agony".

My dentist tells me I will be needing 6 of them. :scared:

*Note: Please, no advice on how to deal w/it ect. JUST your opinion on the pain (if any) of the procedure, including any recovery pain.

[Pab Sungenis]

1. During the procedure, 1. Afterward, 4.

I had one back in 1996, then two more in 2009. The pain was markedly less the second time around. Technology has really improved the process and the recovery.

[BeGoodDoGood]

11. Root Canals

I had a root canal back in 1981. I don't recall that as being too bad.

I had one a few weeks ago and I had a totally different experience. I was okay until the dentist tried to use a dental dam. That activated my gag reflex and I was freaking out some. Then he tried this other device that also blocks off your gullet. It fits into your mouth kinda sideways. That was freaky too. He finally got me some valium and also the laughing gas. It took about 3 hours to get it done.

Walt

[bluethruandthru]

21. I fell asleep during one!

That was long before sedation dentistry. The only drug I had was a couple of shots of novacaine. I've had about 10 and they don't hurt at all while you're having them. Afterwards a little soreness but a couple of Advil take care of it. Don't worry.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. A couple of them.

Neither was painful during the procedure because of the local anesthetic. The first one caused an unpleasant but not excruciating ache after the anesthetic wore off -- about a 3. The second one didn't hurt at all, during or after.

[HereSince1628]

3. The pain in my ASS was devastating...went right through my wallet

like a round with a full metal jacket.

The pain in my mouth was nothing compared to the lasting aches during the economic convalescence.

[PotatoChip]

22. Yeah, I'm kind of worried about that too.

Today will be the day I look into how much of this my insurance will cover. Ugh! x(

[brewens]

4. About like watching Bill O'Reilly. Sorry. Didn't want to sugar coat it. n/t

[PotatoChip]

14. Ugh! That bad huh?

Yikes!

[Orrex]

5. On a scale of 1 to 10, the pain prior to the procedure was about 163

During the procedure it was 1 or 2. Afterward, it was zero.

[SouthernLiberal]

31. Spot on!!

Oh yeah... if your dentist need a root canal, get it! Soon! By the time you can tell you need one, you will have a whole new definition of pain.

[elfin]

6. Not as bad as you fear

The pain for me was much worse BEFORE I had the procedure.

The biggest pain is in your wallet without insurance.

Good luck.

[PotatoChip]

17. I'm hoping you are right

I had 3 wisdom teeth pulled once, and the anticipatory anxiety was a lot worse then the actual entire experience.

[shraby]

7. I had one a long time ago and was expecting a lot of pain but

had none that the anesthetic couldn't take care of. Probably depends a lot on the skill of the doctor.

[Raven]

8. If you go to someone who specializes in this, a 1 on pain. If

you get good drugs after, you'll be fine. The key is to go to someone who does RC's a lot.

[polly7]

9. I'm deathly afraid of dentists so was expecting the worst ....

but I can honestly say it was about a 2.

I left very relieved!

[Deep13]

10. Six? Amateur!

With an endodontist or a good dentist, it is a piece of cake, easier than a filling because there is not much vibration. It is a finesse operation and if you have someone who is not especially good at it, it is extremely painful.

[fredamae]

12. I was Told it would be horrible, but....

I've had 6 in my lifetime and only one hurt a little After...that was "gum irritation" and after a couple days---Who knew it was ever done.
I never needed pain relief.
Good luck!:-)

[PotatoChip]

19. Thanks

I hope that will be the case for me too.

[sarge43]

13. Two

Novocain is your friend, lots of Novocain. Post op, don't remember any pain. When I got home, took some Ibuprofen and crashed. Next day, back to normal, just a bit of soreness around the tooth, no worse than a deep cleaning.

What I do remember is the discomfort of holding perfectly still for a couple of hours while Doc dug around in the gums looking for that nerve. It didn't want to die and hid.

One unsolicited piece of advice: Do not drive yourself to the appointment. You may be fine afterward or like me bounce off all four walls. I'm sure it was coming down from the stress, but I couldn't have operated an egg timer, let alone a car. Safe side, have someone take you and bring you back.

[BanzaiBonnie]

25. I've had five root canals

and always driven myself. Different strokes...

Pain was minimal after. A bit of soreness easily taken care of by NSAIDs. I have the best endodontist ever.

[sarge43]

28. You're very fortunate.

I've had two, wasted the first time and sailed through the second. Reaction to a medical procedure varies with the person, situation, experience, etc, so "safe side" first time out.

[CTyankee]

15. I hope you are going to an endodontist, a person trained in doing rc's.

My "regular" dentist said he could do it. Then he proceeded to hit the very nerve he said was dead. It wasn't. The pain was so sudden and unexpected that I burst into tears.

I had a redo with an endodontist, quit that other dentist and had my dental records of about 10 years sent to another dentist. I never got an apology...

[PotatoChip]

24. I'd be PO'd too

Sorry you went through that.

[daggahead]

16. I've had a couple, and they were far less painful than I thought they'd be.

The shots of novocaine were more painful.

I'd give the pain a 3.

[TheCowsCameHome]

18. 2

Not bad. Pleasantly surprised, actually.

[PotatoChip]

20. Good to know

Overall the responses from everyone are encouraging.

[TheCowsCameHome]

23. I've had 4-5 over the years.

I hope your experience turns out well, also.

[postulater]

26. I was told I needed one for an infected root.

I decided against it.

The infection healed. On the next visit the dentist couldn't find any sign of the problem and had forgotten about the recommendation until I reminded him.

[stellanoir]

27. I had one and aside from having to keep my mouth open

for way too long (TMJ) it was not so bad at all. I went to a dental university clinic for it which was 1/3 the cost and 3 x the time because the students have to wait for professorial approval before they do anything and several times throughout the procedure.

If you're having that many procedures, just for fun see if you can manage to buy yourself an ice cream cone when you're still half numb.

Eating it will be one of the stranger sensations you've ever experienced and might be quite sloppy but it'll make you laugh at least.

[Uben]

29. Root canals and caps on all my teeth!

I got this one! Back in the late seventies, my wife worked as a dental assistant for a very nice dentist. My teeth were very chalky and fractured easily, and he told me I'd have dentures by age 35. So, he offered to do root canals and porcelain to gold caps for my entire mouth for what my insurance paid....80% at the time. So, when they had cancelled appointments, and I could make it in, he would do the work.

I haven't had any tooth pain in over 30 years. I have had a couple of caps replaced because of chipping or cracking, but other than that, no problems. I owe a debt of gratitude to this man who died back in the eighties of cancer. HAd he not done this work, I would surely have dentures and would have endured many sleepless nights of tooth pain.

Pain? Yeah, there's some pain involved, especially when they're working on the upper middle teeth. The novacaine injections in the roof of your mouth hurt for a minute or two, but once the novacaine kicked in, no prob. Recovery pain was very minimal for me, and was far outweighed by the completed product. Come on, anyone can tolerate pain for a minute or two. I have had more pain from tummy aches, ear aches, cuts and bruises, etc. Do it.

[mysuzuki2]

30. I have had 4 and had no real problems with any of them

don't be afraid to tell the dentist to give you more novocain - the more the better! My impression is that it's a bit harder to numb the lower jaw than the upper. I had VERY slight pain - maybe a 1 -when having lowers done. No pain during the uppers. I didn't even need tylenol or ibuprofen after. No pain at all. It might be worse if you're doing a lower molar with all those curvy roots but I wouldn't dread it at all As others have commented, the only real pain is settling up at the front desk afterwords.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

32. Look up holistic dentistry. This is a heads up.

Root canals have germs in them. The gutta-percha used to fill the hole is never sterile. Holistic dentists KILL those germs, which can get in your bloodstream very easily & cause heart disease.

My dentit took my root canals out.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holistic_dentistry


http://www.hugginsappliedhealing.com/

http://marilynkjonesdds.com/

[ellenfl]

33. i had mine in 1966. the pain before the rc was far worse than

anything experienced after it. the dentist shot me full of novacaine then put me in a room while it 'took'. the procedure was pretty much pain free, iirc. the worst part for me . . . trying not to drool while that old long-lasting novacaine wore off.

why do parents always want to take you out to eat after novacaine? macabre sense of humor?

ellen fl

[Crunchy Frog]

34. The pain of the actual root canals was a 1.

I had several of them done when I was a teenager. Granted they were all dead (I think it was from damage when I was hit by a car at age 12). I don't think I even had anesthesia for those. I did have to have one root canal as an adult, and I think the tooth was still alive, but the anesthesia was effective and I don't recall having any pain from it (beyond the novocaine shots, which I absolutely hate). I don't recall any post procedure pain either, but you might as well go for painkillers if you can get them.

What did cause me excruciating pain was the abcesses that I got in the dead teeth prior to the root canals as a teenager. If you're at any risk of that happening, then you're really better off getting them over with now before you have to deal with infections.

The worst of the pain will probably be in your pocketbook if you don't have really good dental insurance.

Good luck.

[Zoigal]

35. Have had several, but very little discomfort however

i am lucky enough to have a high pain threshold.
Good luck. Wish you had my dentist. Not only is he
a super technician, he's quite liberal and gives seniors
a twenty per cent discount.....z

[snagglepuss]

36. I have had many. I had 2 without general anesthesia but after that

I had to be put under because freezing just doesn't work for me. They were very painful. My Mom had a root canal and it was no problem. I know you aren't asking but I suggest you at least have nitrous for the procedure.

[Tumbulu]

37. I had about 6 without any anesthetic

and they were painful, but over in maybe 10- 15 minutes.

Novocaine would make me nauseous so I had all dental work performed without it.

My sister told me when I was pregnant that giving birth naturally was no worse than a root canal without novocaine- but for me childbirth was way more painful. People are very different when it comes to bearing pain.

[phylny]

38. I've had three.

Pain during was zero, pain afterward was zero to one.

[dflprincess]

39. Not nearly the ordeal we've been led to believe

I've had 3 - two in the last 6 weeks and pain during the procedure was non-existent. Afterward, not so bad either though with the 2nd one I did take one of the pain killers the endodontist prescribed the first night - but I was probably being a baby about it. Both the teeth done were on my upper jaw, way in the back - I think I had more discomfort in my mandible joint from having to sit with my mouth hanging open for so long.

The first one I had this year was mostly covered by insurance, the 2nd one had to go on the credit card and that was probably the most painful part of it.

If you're in the Minneapolis area, I can recommend a good endodontist - and he has a great sense of humor in addition to his professional skills.

[SheilaT]

40. Back in about 1961 when I was about 12 or 13

I had a dentist who didn't think I needed Novocaine for a root canal. Any wonder I almost never go to a dentist these days?

[skippercollector]

41. only one

I had one about 10 years ago. I had chipped a tooth on some granola-type cereal (never ate that cereal again). I didn't feel any pain during the procedure, but it was difficult for the peridontist to perform because I have TMJ and can't open my mouth very wide. My main problems were keeping my mouth open wide and the rudeness of the peridontist, not the root canal.
In fact, as soon as the root canal was done, I felt better, even though I was exhausted! I could tell immediately that the infection was gone!

[flamingdem]

42. Don't worry about the torture in the chair, worry about

infection. DO NOT LEAVE THE OFFICE WITHOUT A PRESCRIPTION FOR HEAVY DUTY PAINKILLER

And by that I don't mean wussy Tylenol with Codeine I mean Percodan or similar.