My root canal was painful, but over the long run, it was worth it. The pain of one day versus long-term pain and loss of tooth made it an easy choice to make.
If the bill worries you, just have it yanked. It’s about a 10th the price, and the pain is completely gone when the novocaine wears off. I’ve had 3 of my wisdom teeth done over the years. Of course if it’s a tooth farther forward, you might not want the gap, but that’s the only reason I can see for paying 10 times the price, and undergoing the procedure itself.
I had a root canal on a tooth which had roots into my sinus. It never got numb. I spent the whole time wishing I was dead. It hurt BAD. That’s not a common situation, though. I’ve had over a dozen root canals and most of them the pain kicks in after the novocaine wears off. Sometimes they’ve hurt up to a week afterward, sometimes they don’t hurt much at all.
Get a bite block if you can. It’s a rubber thing they put in your mouth that holds your mouth open so you can just relax. It’s a life saver.
I had a root canal and experienced, no exaggeration, zero pain.
It’s no biggie.
I haven’t read most replies, but will tell my tale…
I have had really bad roots in several teeth, so my dentist had to resort several times to doing canals.
All I can say from my experience is that as long as your dentist knows what he/she is doing and applies enough local anesthetic beforehand, there should be no problem.
The most disconcerting part of the process for me has been the feel of procedures being done. It’s been quite awhile since the last time this was done, so I’m not recalling how to describe the feel. But I do recall thinking at times during the procedures along the lines of “NOW what are they doing?”
I find I heal quickly from dental surgeries, so I’d imagine that helps to some degree.
The problems with gaps from pulling teeth are not just cosmetic. They can allow other teeth to shift, leading to bite problems and more cavities in the tiny, hard-to-brush spaces that form between other teeth as a result. You really, really want to avoid extractions when you don’t absolutely need them.
Wisdom teeth are generally not so bad, because they’re at the end of the line, so to speak, and many people’s mouths aren’t really big enough for them anyhow.
By the way, everybody, it’s my understanding that dentists haven’t used novocaine for quite a long time now. It was replaced with better newer elixers, which I assume is part of the reason that having dental work done is no longer a nightmare.
If it’s just a nerve block, they use lidocaine now, with a touch of epinephrine added to make it take effect faster. Before using it on a new patient, they will usually ask if you have any heart issues or if you’re on any medications that may interact with the epi. I definitely get a raise in heart rate from it, which might make me feel more anxious, but the vicodin I take beforehand helps with that!
I didn’t read the whole thread, but did see sedation dentistry mentioned. The drugs you want the sedation dentist to be using are: fentanyl (powerful opiate pain releiver), propofol (knocks you out), and nitrous gas (happy, happy, dissociative that makes you not care even if you do feel a touch of pain for which you’re not high enough or knocked out enough already). I know someone who hugged her dentist after the procedure with these drugs. She is not a hugger! Definitely ask before booking an appointment what they use, you want these drugs on the list for sure.
I’ve had root canal done with 2 different methods of nerve deadening. one was a series of shots, and the other was a topical agent. The topical agent was applied over and over as the nerve was removed. The problem with that method is that the range of pain can go from zero to 10 instantly. When the dentist says to alert him to any pain, that means ANY pain. I knocked the tools across the room when it happened.
Pain aside, I wasn’t too keen on the high speed grinding. It was like a continuous set of fingernails on a chalkboard or listening to Roseanne Barr sing the national anthem.
my track record with root canals is fair to lousy.
because of infected tissue, a root canal went very bad, which turned me into a neurotic headcase about dental visits in general (i never used to be that way, either. now i have to fight the ‘fight or flight’ syndrome every single time) and eventually i ended up with an implant in that spot where the root canal failed.
based on my experience, i recommend the following if you have any issues with being in a dentist’s chair:
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any time you have mouth pain, don’t ignore it. get to a dentist.
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if you need surgery, get yourself to an oral surgeon, not a DDS.
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go with IV sedation. not twilight sedation. now i have to have that implant i mentioned replaced here fairly soon and yes, i will be out for it. worth every extra penny, too.
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ask if your surgeon uses the rubber wedges. if he doesn’t normally, REQUEST them. they are a total jaw saver as mentioned upthread.
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get the good drugs from your OS.
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repeat: get the good drugs from your OS. you might or might not need them, but if you do, then you have them. that’s bone pain in your mouth in addition to overused and overstretched mouth muscles. aspirin in many cases won’t cut it.
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if possible schedule surgery on a friday and make sure you have a relatively uncluttered weekend after it. again, ymmv, but give yourself time to recover. awake or not, relaxed or not, your body is undergoing some stress whether you realize it or not.
A lot of folks still calls it novocaine as a generic term, though, whatever they actually use.
I see the OP has been banned (not sure why) but to answer the original question:
I’ve had two. One was horrible, the other one was almost completely painless. The difference was that I had far better drugz on board with the second one.
Note that I’m hard to numb in the best of circumstances and as a result, have pretty severe dental phobia.
First one: I had had a crown done a few months before, found that tolerable, so didn’t take any oral tranquilizers beforehand. This turned out to have been a Big Mistake. First shot of “novocaine” (or whatever it was) hurt like HELL and they pretty much had to peel me off the ceiling. They gave me a Dalmane (sp?) under the condition that I called my husband to pick me up. Still, it hurt throughout most of it and was a truly horrible experience. Several times I jerked away while he was attempting to drill. He had to spray novocaine right into the tooth at several points.
And the damn thing had to be extracted anyway - it failed to solve the pain, the tooth was apparently cracked.
Second one: I’d switched to a new primary dentist who was a LOT better at pain management - including giving me Halcion (a benzo, same class as Dalmane I think) plus nitrous oxide. The endodontist who did the second root canal also had nitrous oxide available (the first guy didn’t). And he was puzzled that I wanted to take Halcion - he didn’t use it much - but I assured him “you do NOT want me sober”.
So, I had a dim memory of the initial novocaine injection - nearly painless. And once during the procedure itself I had a vague sensation of “hey, that might be about to start hurting”. Once. And it wasn’t terribly painful even during that once.
The bill wasn’t fun either time (even with insurance) but obviously I know what I’m doing the next time I need a root canal!!!
Some thread in the Pit. She was a sock, whatever that means.