Root Canal

missingtime

Hello,

I'm getting a root canal done tomorrow. I'm guessing someone here has to have had it done at some stage. Basically I just want to know what to expect. It will more than likely be painful but does it really take 3 hours long or does it depend on the state of my tooth?

Thanks

Static M.e.

I had it done, the dentist did it in 2 or 3 visits not sure which (nearly positive it will take at least 2 visits).

Painfull not really no more than usual.

You will be fine I wouldn't worry about it. You might get laughing gas !! then you would enjoy it j/k

MrJoeSoap

Yeah I had one done about this time last year, no worse than any normal trip(s) to the dentist (I had one today strangely).

missingtime

Thanks for posting lads. Hopefully i'll get over it anyway - doesn't sound too painfull by the sound of your posts, at least thats one thing.

I'll just keep asking for more anisthetic! I really wish they could knock you out for these things

MrJoeSoap

Take some Neurofen before you go in case.

condra

i dont know if your dentist would condone taking pain killers before going in.

id have a root canal before a big filling any day of the week. it takes quite a while but u end up going into a trance, listening to "wind wind wind wind wind... yonk... wind wind wind wind wind ..yonk"

Its sore but not agonising.

The thing to remember about root canals is that your tooth will lose all sensitivity afterwards so it can be easy to bash it if youre not careful. Also it goes dark over time as far as I know.

MrJoeSoap

My dentist gave out to me this morning for not taking Neurofen and gave me some Aulin for the next time when I was leaving!

dudara

As long as the dentist gives you plenty of painkillers, it's no worse than any other treatment, it can just be repetitive. But you do drift off into a kind of trance as he works.

It might require multiple visits, as he might want to make sure that the tooth is fully cleaned out before filling it.

deisemum

As a former Dental Assistant I just want to reassure you that it is a fairly straight forward procedure. You normally have a couple of visits because it involves removing the nerve which has died (cause of infection/abscess) and isn't anymore painful than a filling. The dentist will give a local. The reason for the repeat visit/s is to make sure that the infection has drained and once that's ok the root canal is filled. The reason that painkillers such as Neurofen plus are recommended is because they are anti-inflammotry(sp?).

I've had a few root treatments plus apicectomies etc and it's no worse than having fillings

If you have anymore queries just ask

kenmc

I found that the day or 2 after he filed all the nerve out was the worst, when I bit on something or clenched my teeth it hurt a fair bit. After that it didn't hurt. Still getting it done though, I've only had the nerve taken out so far. He has to let it settle down a bit before filling it.

Johnny Jukebox

I had one done over 3 sessions of 45 minutes. Painless, much less so than a filling. No residual pain either and still rock solid a year later.

However, I believe my dentist to be a geniune artist, so your mileage may vary. Good plumbers, bad plumbers etc.

xzanti

Johnny Jukebox wrote:

I had one done over 3 sessions of 45 minutes. Painless, much less so than a filling. No residual pain either and still rock solid a year later.

However, I believe my dentist to be a geniune artist, so your mileage may vary. Good plumbers, bad plumbers etc.

Could you PM me with your dentists name please? Good dentists are hard to find in my experience and I need a root canal done soon

Eoin

deisemum wrote:

As a former Dental Assistant I just want to reassure you that it is a fairly straight forward procedure. You normally have a couple of visits because it involves removing the nerve which has died (cause of infection/abscess) and isn't anymore painful than a filling. The dentist will give a local. The reason for the repeat visit/s is to make sure that the infection has drained and once that's ok the root canal is filled. The reason that painkillers such as Neurofen plus are recommended is because they are anti-inflammotry(sp?).

I've had a few root treatments plus apicectomies etc and it's no worse than having fillings

If you have anymore queries just ask

Exactly what I was going to say. Well, I wasn't a dental assistant etc, but I had it done myself a few months ago.

If the nerve has died, then it may be actually less painful than a filling as there is no feeling in that tooth anymore.

The sensation is very different as the dentist will have to scrape the inside of the tooth to remove any dead nerve ending and other soft tissue so it won't cause an infection. This feels a little strange, but again - not that sore.

The most painful part of the procedure was paying for it.

Kernel32

I've had two root canals, both two visits each. I learned some lessons several years ago about taking care of my teeth better, now I get them cleaned by a hygienist every 6 months. The first one was fine. The second one I had some discomfort because the root split into two tiny pieces at the end and the dentist had trouble getting Novocaine in there. He kept pumping it in but it wouldn't numb that last little bit. I don't remember any need for pain killers though but my jaw was sore for a while afterwards.

Just out of interest. What did you guys have done after the root canal? I was told to get a crown because eventually the filling would break down and if it did the tooth would need extraction. About a year after each root canal I had each tooth crowned as well. They are solid as a rock now.

Civilian_Target

Its not that bad, long and boring, but my dentist clamped my jaws so I didn't have to hold my mouth open...

After the pain of the toothache before the root canal, the bit afterwards was bliss!

Alkers

I had one about 6 months ago and it was completely grand. It took me two sessions - the first one I had a temporary cap on the hole for about 2 weeks then came in to have it cleaned again and a permanent cap put on. After the second session the back of my tooth felt uneaven for a few days but that was probably the worst part of the whole thing. I never felt any actual pain, an odd bit of pressure during the cleaning but it certainly wasn't sore. The smell during drilling was quite unpleasant though. I'd reccomend bringing music - I brought my mp3 player and time passed a lot quicker.

missingtime

Well i survived. Thanks to everyone who posted. Twas grand actually, I've had worse fillings done. The only disconcerting part was when he asked the assistant for the bunsen burner. Have to back next week to finish it off.

Again thanks for all the posts.

deisemum

The bunsen burner is only used to heat an instrument so that it will melt the gp point/s ( soft pink plasticy things that are needle shaped the fill the root canal) They have to be the correct length and fit for the canal.

J.R.HARTLEY

going for esomething similare tomorrow, whole tooth is gone just nerve end, not really sore, was dying to get it done earlier but couldn't. would prefer an extraction, but thats not allowed at the mo. great to hear so many success stories, calms the nerves

missingtime

Yea I was a bag of nerves too, but honestly its fine. Just awkward really.

J.R.HARTLEY

thanks man,
btw good win tonight, fourth in the league.
sorry won't mention soccer in the pi threads again

Turner

Me votes Diesemum as our new boards.ie (ask her anything as im shi.tting my pants about going to the dentist) dental advisor.

missingtime

Seconded

Washout

had it done a while ago.

The worst part of the experience was having to keep my mouth open for a longer period of time.

anyways 3 years later i was back at a differant ddentist ...had developed an abcess on the that ihad the root canal done. This dentist took an xray and said the root canal wasnt done properly. that the original dentis should have filed out deeper into the root. but the abcess was localised so he said ican either
(a)pay about a grand to get the root canal re done...
(b)pay 80 euro or so to get it yoinked out or
(c) i can leave it be and the tooth will eventually fall out. and the abscess wont afffect the other teeth.

Ive gone for option c

Eoin

Washout wrote:

(a)pay about a grand to get the root canal re done...
(b)pay 80 euro or so to get it yoinked out or
(c) i can leave it be and the tooth will eventually fall out. and the abscess wont afffect the other teeth.

Ive gone for option c

Did the abcess cause any swelling? Mine caused the entire right hand side of my face from the bottom of my eye to my jaw to puff out like I had seven shades of shìte beaten out of my. I would pay to get it taken out if that could happen again.

Victor

I'm getting one tomorrow. I was freaking out yesterday, so I called into the dentist. Neurofen is not needed beforehand, but ask your own dentist.

I'll just be getting the one valium. :eek:

feylya

How much do they cost normally?

Victor

feylya wrote:

How much do they cost normally?

I'm being charged about 300 euro. :eek:

David19

I had a root canal done last week and it was 300 euro too.

deisemum

I haven't had a land line for 5 days so I've only got back online.

A grand is a lot more than I'd have expected to pay for an RCT.

A second opinion may be worth it.

As I'm fairly new to this site what do you mean by me as new board.ie

It is a while since I was a dental nurse and last worked for the official dentists to the Arsenal team in the days of Ian Wright, Kevin Campbell and David O Leary but I still have retained most of the info. (ps used to get plenty of offers to inflict injuries on players by fans for other teams LOL)

MrJoeSoap

deisemum wrote:

As I'm fairly new to this site what do you mean by me as new board.ie

They actually said you could be the new boards.ie dental advisor, the brackets just broke it up a wee bit!

If you worked for Arsenal you could certainly help some people here!

deisemum

All right I'll do my best,

I worked for the dentists who had a contract with Arsenal not directly for Arsenal.

squire1

Ok, this is probably not for the faint hearted.

I went to get a root canal done abut 10 years ago. I don't know the procedure but the dentist was sticking someting down into the root (to clean it I presume) and it become stuck solid. He couldn't get it back out. It felt like a needle with barbs on it or something. Anyway, he kept trying to pull it out and it felt like he was going to pull my lower jaw off my face. His assistant kept giving him worried looks and he was sweating from the exertion. Not a word was said as I had my jaw clamped open but I could see by his eyes that he was worried. After abiout 20 mins of pulling at this thing stuck in my tooth he just got up and left the room for a few minutes without saying a word. (me starting to get anxious at this stage).

He came back looking a bit calmer and started pulling at it again. Still didn't say a word to me. He gave me another injection for the pain and I managed to ask him if there was a problem. He just smiled and said "no problem, just a very deep root".

Anyway, he eventually managed to pull the bloody thing loose by using my chest as a lever. Smiles all around. He took a few minutes to poke around and told me to come back again tomorrow.

I got up, walked out and looked for another dentist. Never heard from him again.

deisemum

God help me but I couldn't help laughing, I could just imagine it. The dental nurse was probably throwing worried looks at the dentist because she'd have to suffer his bad mood later. He would have been ok to continue with the work, you may have had a root that was curved.

What happened to you is rare that it was stuck for so long but when cleaning out a root canal dentists use files and start from fine to wider ones, and repeat this over a couple of visits to ensure that the infection is gone and the files come out clean.

Sorry I'm still laughing. It must be the sadistic nature in me that attracted me to dentistry in the first place, after all when I was about 7 years old I yanked out my 6 year old sister's loose tooth with a crochet hook.

Victor

I got mine finished last Friday, no pain at all, well because the main nerve is gone.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

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