Be honest with me

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Incompetent Dentists or Specialists who cannot give shots without a lot of pain can be very bothersome. The ones in the roof of the mouth are going to hurt the fuck out of me no matter what.

Then it’s the whole “jamming multiple hands into my mouth and forcing my jaws open for hours at a time” thing. My mouth doesn’t natually open that wide and it hurts like hell during and especially after.

That and the wonderful combination that my body tends to burn through novocaine pretty fast and my mouth is especially sensitive. Means they have to haul in Novocaine by the train load and keep giving it to me if they’re taking a long time to get it done.

22

I had infected tissue, pus, had to go on antibiotics first, the whole shabang. And honestly, the only thing that hurt was the numbing injection, and that even only felt like a bee sting. The rest of the time, I was just bored, trying to hear what was going on with Judge Judy on the tv screen over the sound of the drill.

It was long, tedious, and was a three part procedure. The first was the appointment to get ready for it, performed at my local dentist, then the actual show with the specialist, then back to my local dentist for the fitting of the crown. All in all I was done in about three days, then had to wait a week for my crown to come in.

But unlike others, thankfully I didn’t have to pay a dime for my procedure!

23

That was my experience. :smiley:

The only pain I had was soreness after the anesthetic wore off. Any OTC pain reliever should handle it.

I have 2 crowns, both no big deal (other than the expense).

24

It might hurt for you, and it might not. I’m hard to freeze, so when I needed a root canal, I went with sedation dentistry (my last filling I had done before making that decision had me with a new dentist, and me seeing the fear in his eyes when after about six shots, I still wasn’t frozen - I swore never again). Even with the sedation I still felt pain with the root canal - I felt such a sharp, stabbing pain that I tried to grab some tool out of the dentist’s hand - they don’t like that.

They always tell me that temporary crowns don’t hurt, either, but three of the four I’ve had hurt like a sonofabitch from the time the freezing wore off until they put the permanent crown on. I would never tell anyone that a dental procedure doesn’t hurt - if your nerves and whatever aren’t exactly like everyone else’s, they might hurt.

25

I’ve had a root canal procedure done. It wasn’t that bad.

The actual procedure and recovery - very little pain. Much less than I expected. I didn’t need any pain meds (even something as gentle as aspirin.) The basic Novocane to do the thing was more than enough.

I will say what I didn’t like about the procedure was the “gross” factor. The dentist is drilling through the center of your tooth. I got a bit squicked out at the smell of burning tooth (from the drill friction.) And I really didn’t like the sensation of the dentist pulling out a drill that looked inches longer than it needed to be, then sinking it ALL THE WAY through my tooth into the jaw. No pain, just a general sense of “Yuck, you’re sticking four inches of drill bit into my fucking jaw”)

So it’s not that bad, at least in my experience. A bit unpleasant, but certainly no agony or even moderate discomfort.

26

No, they really don’t. I always tell the dentist or hygienist that if I raise my hand, that means that they need to stop whatever they’re doing. Maybe I’m in pain, maybe I think I’m gonna puke, but if I make that signal, that means that they need to get everything out of my mouth. Some dentists have rubber wedges that they’ll put in your mouth, so that you don’t have to make a conscious effort to keep your mouth open. I rather like those wedges.

27

Can’t you get it done under “twilight surgery” now? That is painless.

28

I’ve had two root canals done in the last couple of months. My gum is still a bit sore from the last one.

Only a bit, though. Compared with getting the broken off root of a wrecked tooth extracted - which I’ve also personally experienced - a root canal is a walk in the park. My own experience of root canals is that they’re unpleasant but not the worst thing I’ve ever had done to me by a long shot. Only mildly hurty.

I’d say the most important part is getting a good dentist. The dentist I’ve been seeing recently is excellent.

29

I think that’s what Cat Whisperer is talking about. And she’s claiming it isn’t necessarily painless. Even unconscious she apparently tried to stop them, it hurt so bad.

Or am I misunderstanding the term “sedation dentistry”?

30

I’ve had some teeth extracted under twilight surgery, and yeah, it is painless. I went to an oral surgeon rather than a dentist, that is, he had an MD instead of a DDS. I’m not sure if regular dentists can use that sort of sedation, or if I had to go to the oral surgeon because of my other health problems. The oral surgeon had a lot of equipment that my regular dentist didn’t have, stuff like a glucometer, a setup for adminstering IV drugs, and a special breathing apparatus. For the record, he charged a VERY fancy price for his fancy setup, too.

31

I had an argument with the root canal specialist about which tooth needed the root canal.

He just nodded and pulled out a little tool on a cable and said here’s the one you think needs work. And now here’s the one I think needs work.

After a few seconds of blinding pain from the freeze of the tool, I conceded the point.

32

Naah, It’s uncomfortable, (your jaw really aches after while) and tedious. I’ve had 4. But not painful, really.

33

Mine didn’t hurt at all. The anesthetic was a good one – it even held with the dentist was delayed for about 15 minutes for an emergency.

34

(Without reading the other replies)

Welcome to the 21st Century, where Root Canals are unpleasant, but no big deal.

Thirty-five years ago I had a root canal, and it was unbelievably painful. My worst nightmare.

About eight years ago, I found myself needing three of them, spaced out over a few months. My dentist assured me that the Bad Old Days were long gone, being knocked out was unnecessary (and unsafe because of my sleep apnea), and that I wouldn’t feel a thing.

When I arrived for the first one, despite being self-sedated on Xanax (pre-approved by the Oral Surgeon) I was so scared I was shaking. I was 52, but felt like a child. To shorten a rather long story- When he finished the procedure I was shocked when he said “All done”, because I hadn’t felt the slightest pain. Literally no pain whatsoever.

The two subsequent RC’s were the same.

Afterward, one of the Tech’s told me that it was quite common for people my age to be terrified. She remembered one supermacho Truck Driver type guy breaking out in tears.

35

I don’t know if twilight surgery is the same as sedation dentistry - here’s a description of sedation dentistry. You basically take a couple of tranquillizers and a sleeping pill (I believe) and while you don’t go completely unconscious, you are extremely relaxed - for me, I felt like I dozed off in the quiet room before the procedure, and the next thing I remember is getting roused to go to the car and go home (you don’t drive yourself, obviously). Even as hard to freeze as I am (a whole bunch of my fillings have been done without being completely frozen, and I’ve had about 25 of them done), the procedure wasn’t too bad - just that one stab that made it through the fog.

36

Definitely not the case with my first RC in the early 70’s. The moment of agony was when the root was finally addressed directly.
I’m surprised to hear anyone even mention the painkiler injections. My dentist and oral surgeon both would apply a wad of lidocaine (?) to numb the spot where the first needle would go in, so that even the first injection doesn’t hurt a bit.

.

37

This. (but only the once, thank god)

The pain started on the saturday evening, I couldn’t get to see a dentist until the monday afternoon. Three days without sleep. After that, nothing that the dentist has ever done has bothered me much.

38

I’ve had two root canals done, neither of them hurt.

On the first, the tooth was already crowned, but apparently, putting the crown on had irritated the root to the point that the pulp became inflamed and picked up bacteria from the bloodstream (I did not know that could happen), and nerve pulp is apparently a perfect place for bacteria to throw a little party.

I went from “hmmm, my ear is a little tender. I wonder if I’m getting an otitis media,” to “Dear God, just please give me the sweet release of death!” in about four hours. Seriously, I took three Vicodin, and I was still hurting bad enough to cry.

When I saw the endodontist, I’d had enough pain meds over a long enough period of time that I was able to do other things than curl up around my jaw and whimper. As soon as he started the numbing process, it got better, a little more better, and finally all better.

He explained to me that there were a handful of developments that had completely changed the course of root canals. First, dentists began to take pain control seriously and would give enough anesthetic, that the patient just wouldn’t feel anything. In my case, it was three stages - the topical ointment that numbed the gums, the initial shots that didn’t hurt because the gums were numb, and then any necessary follow-up shots if I gave any indication of feeling pain.

Second, endodontists took a page out of neurosurgery’s book and started getting the really big magnifiers, so they could see what they were doing on an epically tiny scale. Some nerve roots are smaller in diameter than a human hair, so seeing at a 100x magnification, it was much easier to spot and remove all the nerve tissue.

Finally, they started doing bleach rinses of the root canal after the canal is opened with filing, but before the gutta percha is put in. The bleach kills off any residual bacteria. The reason so many people had so much pain after a root canal is that a large percentage would have a tiny bit of leftover nerve and a bacterial infection taking over the canal.

So, on my first, I went in terrified, and came out wobbly and relieved.

My second one was an early catch. I had a very large cavity that was getting closer and closer to the root. I put off getting a filling, because I had no coverage and no money. When I finally could, it had gone too far, and getting rid of the cavity (which is not actually a void, but is rotten dentin with the texture of leather) would end up hitting my tooth’s nerve anyway. So, back to the same wonderful endodontist. I was a little jittery, but I came out feeling just fine. Well, except he’d numbed me up so much, I looked like I’d had a stroke - couldn’t smile properly, dribbled water when I drank, couldn’t talk quite right - for another six hours. Not complaining.

If you’re really nervous, classyladyhp, call your endodontist and ask him for a prescription for a tranquilizer before you go in. Diazepam (Valium) and Xanax work wonderfully. If you’re already in pain because of an infected root, and OTC medications aren’t cutting it, ask him for prescription painkillers. A good endodontist will listen to you and take care of your concerns.

39

Yes, those new jeans make your butt look big.

Now we see why my wife never asks me to be honest with her.*

For the root canal, I’ve had two, and either was bad.

*And, no, I would never answer that honestly either.

40

I had one done fairly recently, and the procedure itself only hurt twice, when she was poking around and went too far. I’m not sure what she was doing, exactly, since this lady doesn’t tell me anything while she’s working. That was only a couple of seconds of pain followed by “Oh my god are you okay? I’m so sorry I’m so sorry!” By far the worst part of the whole thing was the x-rays, but if you don’t have a tiny mouth like I do, you should be fine. They had to take x-rays at the start, and stopped working twice during the procedure to take more. It took all of my willpower to not shove the dental assistant away and run away during those, it hurt so bad. :frowning: