(Since today’s Saturday it’s possible this is too late, but…)
Good timing - I just had one Tuesday. I’d had one about 3 years back which was pretty horrid - I have pretty bad dental anxiety, but had done OK with a crown so though I could go through the root canal with no pre-medication (tranks). This was a mistake, as I found when the first shot of novocaine was so painful and frightening I nearly passed out. One Dalmane (benzo? trank) administered by the endo did nothing. I had to have numerous other shots, including some novo sprayed directly into the tooth. Jumping and screaming mid-procedure is apparently a bad thing.
The Dalmane kicked in once I got home :rolleyes: :smack: The tooth hurt considerably afterward and for some weeks. The endo actually put me on prednisone for a couple of days to clobber the inflammation which helped. Ultimately, unfortunately, the tooth got more and more painful and I had it extracted 6 months later; it was probably not salvageable from the start and I’m sorry I wasted so much money trying to save it. Oh, and there was no infection.
**
This** time around, there was NO question about avoiding pre-medication. Different endo, who can administer nitrous. Also a dose of Halcion an hour beforehand so it had time to kick in. Minor pain during the initial injection which is to be expected. Once or twice during the procedure I felt the teeniest beginnings of discomfort and was gearing myself up to let them know it hurt but it never went beyond that. The nitrous/halcion combo dealt well with the anxiety which, I’m convinced, worsens the pain. Oh, and I also took a couple ibuprofen beforehand to help nip that pain/cascade sequence in the bud. I don’t think there was any infection this time either, and I’d been on antibiotics anyway due to bronchitis.
4 days later, the tooth is still achey so we’ll see how this does; it took a couple of weeks for it to settle down from the crown prep 3 months ago also, so I’m hopeful.
But all in all, it was not that bad. If I hadn’t had such a long history of bad dental experiences, I wouldn’t worry at all about others. My advice: take any medication they suggest before/during/after, and don’t attempt to tough it out.
I’m seeing a recurring theme of excruciating pain when folks get the lidocaine shot to numb your gums. Don’t your dentists use a numbing gel, applied with a cotton swab, on the area of the injection first? I’ve had two dentists here, and one endodontist, and they all do that. They dab some gel on the end, rub the area and have you hold it there for a minute. Then, you can barely feel the shot at all. I can’t think of why somebody would just thrust a needle in your gum or the roof or your mouth without numbing it first! Do I just have good dentists, or what?
As far back as I can remember my dentists have always used that numbing gel first, so I can’t compare with and without, but in all my fillings (lots of them - I’ve been a bad boy in the past in terms of dental hygiene) I would never have described the subsequent freezing as “barely feel the shot at all”. Maybe you’re lucky and the numbing gel has a particularly strong impact on you.
Our old dentist didn’t bother; before that it was hit or miss (some did, some didn’t - the endo who did my first root canal did not). Our new dentist does.
The thing is, that only numbs the top layers of the gums - if they have to inject deep, it’s gonna hurt a bit no matter what. The topical definitely helps though.
Had one a few years ago. I was aprehensive because I’d always vaguely heard they were very painful, but nothing hurt while I was there and almost nothing hurt afterwards. There were two funny moments when I got a strong but brief toothy pain, like half a second long. These made me say, My goodness, what was that? But nothing to complain of. If I was gong to have another I’d be much more relaxed about it all.
I guess maybe years ago they were very painful, and got a bad reputation, but something about the method changed - anybody know?
Well, I’m back from my root canal, and I’m glad to say it wasn’t a horror show.
I explained to him how scared and nervous I was when I first got there and he said that he’ll make it pain free. He was about 99% right. He gave me numbing gel in the spots for the injection on the outside of my mouth, then on the bridge. I felt the stick on the bridge. He dropped a couple of drops of the lido in to my throat, because of my gag reflex. There we go, no more gagging! heh
He had to give me two more boosts of lido during the 3 hour procedure. I’m still numb.
No pain to speak of at the moment. He told me to take Advil and the Naproxen I had for the infection for pain. (Allergic to Codeine or it would have been T3’s for me)
So far so good. Have to go back July 11th for a permanent filling, but other than that, I’m done.
Thank goodness for dental benefits. It only cost me $52.99
ETA: Thanks for all the support and input Dopers! I appreciate it.
Eating the soup was okay, it was drinking from a water bottle that proved difficult. I felt like Kramer from Seinfeld when he went to the denists and couldn’t drink.
It’s the morning after and I’m having no pain at all. The last thing I took was 3 Advil @ 6:00 pm at the Dr’s insistance.
It’s a little sore if I put pressure on it. And the temporary filling sits down further than the teeth on the right side, so when I close my mouth completely, it’s the first thing that touches. Kinda annoying. I think I’ll let the Dr. know on Monday and see if he can file it down a bit. If not, I’ll have to wait until the 11th.
Too late for this patient, but a word of warning when having soup if your mouth’s still numb – check the temperature! It’s easy to burn your mouth without realising, and then when the anaesthetic wears off… OUCH!
Were you looking when he took out the root? (ETA: I guess it’s the nerve they take out, not the root, but…) I made the mistake of watching that. It looked like a wilted bean sprout. Totally freakin’ disgusting. That was the worst part, aside from having my mouth jacked open two 4 hour sessions. Hope your jaw isn’t sore from that. Other than that, it’s not as bad as whatever caused you to need the root canal in the first place, I’ll bet.
Uh…yeah, I saw it shudder Really nasty. I had my eyes closed for most of it.
I think the part I’m most freaked about it the 3 pointy, spike looking things they used to fill the holes. He put them in and then used this tool to melt them. Smelled like burning rubber.
I saw the digital x-rays that he took during with the metal “pathfinders” to make sure he was getting everything. Ugh.
He let me have my MP3 player, so I was able to stay pretty calm.
My jaw is the only sore thing today. It was funny, after having my mouth open for that long, he took the clamps out and held my mouth open with two fingers sideways and made me slowly bite down. It took about 30 seconds to get my mouth all the way closed, slowly taking his fingers out, just to make sure I didn’t snap down. That woulda hurt like a mother.
I’m really glad it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had anticipated. I wouldn’t want another one, but I could live with one if I had to.
I had a root canal back in December and only got a temporary filling at the time. My insurance wouldn’t cover the crowns so I had to wait until this month and my tax refund to go back for those.
Lady, you have a temporary crown, not filling, yes? If it gets disloged, you can use denture adhesive to put it back if you don’t want to wait for the dentist. It’s best you get that thing back in ASAP or the gum will start to close in where your tooth was, which will be a mite uncomfortable when you get your permanent. I speak from experience.
::erk:: I am very glad I did not see them removing the roots from my mouth. Blech!! I’ve long since learned that I do best when I do not have my eyes open during anything medical being done to/near me.
On the burning rubber… well, that’s actually pretty much what he was doing! They fill the root with gutta percha (I think that’s what it’s called) which is some sort of synthetic rubber.
That helped me a lot also! Drowns out incidental sounds, provides something better for the mind to focus on. Made it difficult to hear when they wanted me to do something though.
Oh and the other weird thing I just now remembered - they snapped some sort of “dam” around the tooth so my entire mouth was covered with this flexible plastic sheet. That was strange. I know why they do it - to isolate the tooth and give them a somewhat sterile working field, but it was weird nonetheless.
Overall the worst part was the x-rays the tech was taking at the end to confirm everything was OK - she kept jabbing the mechanism into my mouth and making me gag. Too bad I didn’t have the chance to actually upchuck on her :::cackle:::
Sorry for borrowing your thread here but while the subject is still fresh: for those of you who’ve had root canals, how long has it taken for the post-procedure discomfort to die down?
My tooth is actually more sensitive (specifically to biting pressure) than it was before the procedure. I called the endo’s office this morning and the person I spoke with said that was normal, and we should allow 2 full weeks for the discomfort to die down before having the permanent crown placed. Just wondering if others here have had this sort of experience.
I didn’t have any discomfort at all. I wore a temporary crown for about a month without incident, and got the permanent crown last Thursday. No problem.
If the tooth doesn’t have a nerve anymore, you ought not to be able to feel anything with it. Unless you’re talking about your gum being painful. I didn’t have any of that, so I dunno!
Um, nope, it’s a filling. See, a little chunk of my tooth broke off to begin with, which is what started this whole thing. It’s #27, second to last molar on the left top. He was able to save it and fill it and I won’t need a crown once it’s filled in.
Yeh, that mint flavored balloon thing? I hated that thing, but it kept any nasties from going down my throat.
My tech let me hold the x-ray…thingie…so I wouldn’t gag.
Speaking of upchucking…when I was 15 and being fitted for braces, I had to have the moulds done. Uh yea…I have a really bad gag reflex. After struggling with the process, I barfed up water all over my own lap. Luckily my grandfather took pity on me and let me stay home from school the rest of the day. hehe
No worries, ask away!! My dentist told me it would be at least a week before I could chew on that tooth and a full 2 weeks before the discomfort was gone. Yet, I’ve had no pain or discomfort at all.
I did speak to the hygenist today and she said it’s not unheard of for there to be no pain or discomfort, but it’s unusual.
