# How painful is getting your teeth capped?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-painful-is-getting-your-teeth-capped/497390>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 23, 2009, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-painful-is-getting-your-teeth-capped/497390 "2009-05-23T11:42:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-painful-is-getting-your-teeth-capped/497390/21 "2012-07-29T14:00:29Z")

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> [@Breadcaster](#):
>
> I moved from Canada to France a couple of years ago. I have had a fair bit of work done on my teeth while in France, including having a crown installed on a molar. […] I was surprised by the fact that, similar to my previous visits to my French dentist, no anaesthetic was used, and even more surprised that I have experienced no pain to speak of. […]Obviously, even French dentists must use novocaine on occasion, and maybe I have just been lucky not to have needed it so far.

I’m French and I’ve had tons of dental work done. Tooth removal, a large number of root canals, capping, crowns, etc…

French dentists use novocain all the time (what they never use, though, is nitrous oxide), that is, when you might actually feel pain. You probably already have had a root canal done on this tooth, and without a nerve, the dentist can do pretty much anything to your tooth, and you won’t feel a thing.

It’s probably by random chance that when you had dental work done in France, it turned out that both time, the dentist was working on a desensitived (it that a word?) tooth. Believe me, because it happened to me once, if a dentist is trying to drill into a tooth that still has a nerve, you’re going to scream. Regardless of whether the dentist is French or North-American, regardless how skilled he is.

Similarly, I doubt that American dentists actually use novocaine when your tooth isn’t sensitive.

And regarding the OP : no, having a tooth capped doesn’t hurt. In fact, with anesthesics, pretty much nothing done by dentists hurt. Except for removing a tooth, and even that doesn’t always hurt.

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**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-painful-is-getting-your-teeth-capped/497390/22 "2012-07-29T14:37:42Z")

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I appreciate the updates but … the question was from 3 years ago. I have had the caps long ago. And they weren’t that painful.

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**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-painful-is-getting-your-teeth-capped/497390/23 "2012-07-29T14:43:04Z")

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> [@Khadaji](#):
>
> I appreciate the updates but … the question was from 3 years ago. I have had the caps long ago. And they weren’t that painful.

Uh oh. I guess no one told you about what happens after 3 years. Oh well, you’re about to find out on your own anyway.

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