Root Canal - Is it painful?

[W1RKW]

I was on a business trip last week and a tooth started giving me trouble.  Got home to see the dentist and he told me I have an abscessed tooth and need a root canal. Anyone ever have this procedure done?  Going in tomorrow for my first and hopefully my last but don't know what to expect.  Can't say that I like having sharp pointy implements of destruction in my mouth.

[KA1ZGC]

I haven't had one, but I've always been told they aren't.

It's amazing how far they've come since even a young JN like me was a kid. I just had a tooth pulled a couple of weeks ago, totally painlessly, with only a sore gum afterwards. If your dentist is even halfway decent, it won't be painful, probably just unpleasant.

I just got back from an ultrasonic cleaning today. That's a blast. They take this hook that's vibrating ultrasonically with a built-in jet of water and dig away at your teeth with it. I don't know what frequency it's at, but it's got a wicked 8kc product when it's in contact with your teeth, and that conducts through your skull very well, thankyouverymuch!

To top it off, three more days of amoxycillin and metronidazole, the latter of which turns to The Dark Side in the presence of alcohol. 

Guess I should have taken care of my teeth when I was a kid. 

I'm sure you'll be fine. Good luck with it.

--Thom
Keep Away One Zesty Green Cocktail

[Jim, W5JO]

As painless as buying from Radio Mart.  Is your destist doing it or sending you to an Endodondist?  Enough Novacain and you won't feel a thing.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

I had one long ago,  it didn't hurt much till after.  It was more unpleasant feeling the goings on, sounds and smells too.

My oldest son, had FOUR root canals, after being struck in the face by a ball.  If he hadn't had braces at the time he would be missing his top four front teeth.  I sat with him during the procedure.  He told me after he was more scared than in pain.  his mouth hurt some after the 'caine wore off, but that passed in a day or so.

[Ed-VA3ES]

Very interesting thread. I have an aversion to dentists, can't stand the discomfort.  But I think I need a root canal soon.   Maybe I'll take the gas, and pretend I'm at a Grateful Dead concert!

[Tom WA3KLR]

I heard co-workers complain about root canal jobs as though they were the worst thing.  I've never had one myself, my wife had one about a year ago though.  She is allergic to most drugs and so had no pain killer.  The root canal job was painless, the dentist said it would be so.

Most above say it was painless too.  This is how it should be.  I've come to the conclusion that the pain is proportional to the incompetency of your dentist.

[K1JJ]

I've had two root canals.  I would recommend using Novacain as a local.

The hassle was slightly greater than having a big molar cavity worked on and takes three times as long.  Personally, I don't mind dentist visits a bit and anticipate going like getting a haircut. It's all a matter of attitude.  Just get it done and fergetaboudit...    No big deal.

The real trouble can be when you pull the wisdom teeth. I had four pulled in one sitting and suffered for a couple weeks afterwards. It all depends on your situation.

T

[k4kyv]

I have had several, and none have been painful.  Usually, by the time you need a root canal, the nerve in the tooth is dead anyway, so you shouldn't feel intense pain even if no anesthesia is used.  They always shot me pretty full anyway.  The procedure is long, and the smell on a couple of them was putrid.  I suppose that was caused by the infection that generated the problem in the first place.

When I was a kid all the dentists I ever went to were butchers, and I dreaded a dental appointment almost as much as I would dread an appointment with the executioner.  My first recollection of having a tooth filled was with no painkiller at all.  He just started drilling with one of those old fashioned slow speed drills with the motor and series of pulleys. Things got a little better later, as high speed water turbine drills came into vogue.  But by my mid-30's my teeth were on the verge of rotting out, so I finally went to a dentist in Boston, recommended by a friend.  I was really surprised - painless dentistry! 

After a few visits, I finally could relax.  Every dentist I have visited since has used similar techniques.  I suppose techniques improve over the years.  Now, when I have dental work, the hardest part is staying awake during the procedure and holding my mouth open.

Probably what saved my teeth was daily flossing.  As a kid, I remember dental floss as something you used occasionally when stuff got stuck between your teeth and you couldn't get it out.  If I had flossed daily all my life, I  probably wouldn't have so much metal in my mouth, and the root canals wouldn't have been necessary.  But I didn't learn about proper flossing until I went to that dentist in Boston.  Brushing your teeth without flossing ranks in usefulness on about the same order as male tits.

In my parents' day, it was just assumed that by age 40 or 50, most people would have a full set of false teeth.  At age 64, I still have all mine except wisdom teeth.  My present dentist says there is no excuse for anyone to lose a tooth, ever.  If I were to lose a tooth now, to me it would be comparable to losing a finger.

But I probably could buy several copies of the most expensive super-duper top-of-the-line ricebox slopbucket appliance with what I have spent on dental work the past 30 years.

[KE7NL - Jack]

Don't worry about it.  The Dentist will give you Novacaine (or something like it) and you won't feel a thing.  Plan on being in the chair for more than an hour.  That is the unpleasant part.  It is a long procedure.  Well worth it to keep the tooth!

[wa2zdy]

I've had too many and I agree with the others; it should not hurt.  Anticipation is the worst part of it.  If you feel any discomfort at all tell the guy you want more happy juice.  He'll oblige.

Don is right, there really isn't much excuse for the dental troubles so many of us have.  In my case bad teeth are apparently hereditary coupled with the fact that I was lazy with dental care as a young'un.  So I've brought my problems upon myself.  And I've had a LOT of work done over the years. 

I had a toothache once about 15 years ago and my family dentist, a really great guy, told me he was surprised.  He didn't think I still had enough enamel left to decay.  Funny guy but he was telling the truth.

So for your appointment, relax.  In fact tell the guy to use a wedge and take the opportunity to catch a few ZZZZZZZZs.  That's what I do.  Unlike Don, I don't worry about it.  I like to sleep!

Good luck, you'll be just fine.

[KB2WIG]

Thom,
  Click on this  for your scaling questions......................http://www.dentalfind.com/glossary/cavitron.html
  You'll find out a lot ....                                            http://www.dentalez.com/dez.asp?Go=hygiene&tab=prod&br=Star     
                            and/or                                        http://www.dhed.net/main.htm       

[K1JJ]

Probably what saved my teeth was daily flossing.   If I had flossed daily all my life, I  probably wouldn't have so much metal in my mouth, and the root canals wouldn't have been necessary.  But I didn't learn about proper flossing until I went to that dentist in Boston.  Brushing your teeth without flossing ranks in usefulness on about the same order as male tits.

Yes, flossing is the key. I like Glide floss. Expensive, but smooth as Teflon. Also, the Sonic Oral B power toothbrush helps immensely.

I use to get my share of cavities when young. But, I haven't had a new cavity in fifteen years. Hard to believe it myself. It's all due to the focused brushing and flossing.

When I look at the cavity-free teeth of younger people today, especially molars, I often think that my teeth could have been like that too if I started disciplined brushing and flossing early on.

But, if ya feel bad about your own teeth, take a look at the average person's choppers who grew up in the 1920's thru 1940's... (previous dental technology generation)

T

[N9NEO]

Hey Bob,

I just had one this morning at 9:30am   Not a bad deal at all.  Minor discomfort at the worse.  Dr gave me novocain. Was over in 45minutes and I was back to work at 1pm.

He gave me prescription for penacillin and 10 painkillers.  Penicillin is probably good idea  cause the root area has got some kinda infection going on.  I probably wont fill the painkiller cause there just isn't any pain.  I used to save the painkillers for when I would drink way too much.  They are good for hangover.  Wife keeps me on a short leash so no more hangovers here.

Was over your way on Sunday riding the back roads in CT.  Stopped at a Irish Pub up in Colchester (for 1) then south and east over the steel bridge by the opera house.  Didn't go thru Devil's Hopyard this time.  Ended up in Westbrook for Dinner than past Frank's house in Niantic and then home.  What great roads in CT to ride.

Don't have any concerns for the root canal.  It's really not a bad time. 

73
Bob
N9NEO

[KA1ZGC]

Thom,
  Click on this  for your scaling questions......................http://www.dentalfind.com/glossary/cavitron.html
  You'll find out a lot ....                                            http://www.dentalez.com/dez.asp?Go=hygiene&tab=prod&br=Star     
                            and/or                                        http://www.dhed.net/main.htm       

Yep. That's the unit. Pretty damned effective, I gotta say. You sure do know it when it hits a loose crown or filling, though!

That's one thing I like about this dentist, he's big on keeping up with the times. The digital x-ray setup he's got blew my mind the first time I saw it. Just pop a transducer (or whatever the proper term is) in your mouth, give it about a 10 millisecond shot of x-ray energy, and there on the PC display is a bitmap x-ray image that's gotta be a good 800 to 1000 pixels square!

That good an image with no overhead from film developing costs, I can't imagine why any practicing dentist would want to keep paying for the overhead (and almost 10x the x-ray energy per exposure) to get a postage-stamp-sized film x-ray. R.O.I., baby, R.O.I.

Don and Tom, you're both right about flossing being the key. That's where I really blew it. Most of the damage I have is from food rotting away between my teeth. Now I've found a really good dentist, I'm going on a drilling-and-blasting tear. Breaking that crown and losing the tooth was a real wake-up call.

I'll probably be going the root canal route with two molars that crumbled years ago. The dentist I went to when that happened was taking over the practice of my regular dentist, and actually argued with me about which tooth (on opposite sides of my mouth) was the one in pain. I took off the bib and walked out. That was 1997.

It took until breaking a crown, and eventually the tooth, to finally find a good dentist, get back in the chair, and fix the mess I've gotten myself into. Now I've got to make sure I don't slip back into old bad habits.

Good teeth or bad, good dental hygeine or bad, it certainly pays to have a good dentist.

BTW Tom, I'm not at all suprised you haven't had a cavity in 15 years. I haven't seen how vigorously you brush your teeth, but I've seen how vigorously you brush the dogs' teeth! 

--Thom
Killer Agony One Zoinking Giant Cavity

[KB2WIG]

Vogorus brushing, along with side to side brushing erodes the skin on the teeth and exposes the roots + pain, sensitivity and rotttt ...like  some things in life, go a little slower and you 'll be happy .... klc

[Ed KB1HVS]

Root Canal. Its okay. Novocaine with epinephrine makes my heart race like a mofo. I always ask for without.Lil trinket toy as a child. Now script of pain killers. The tooth is now dead so as you age, it becomes brittle and prone to breakage. Prize...Gold crown and more painkillers

[K1JJ]

Vogorus brushing, along with side to side brushing erodes the skin on the teeth and exposes the roots + pain, sensitivity and rotttt ...like  some things in life, go a little slower and you 'll be happy .... klc

Yep, over-brushing is a problem. On the Sonic Oral B power brush they have an timer that alerts after 2 minutes. And, it pays to have a gentle pressure with a soft set of bristles.

BTW, it's funny to watch the latest hot trend of bright white teeth using these hydrogen peroxide/oxygen solution whitners.  Everybody under 30 (and all movie stars) are walking around with Tony Robbins smiles. Off-white normal teeth ain't good enuff anymore, caw mawn...

Maybe I'll get a gold capped front tooth.  Or maybe a black fang would be better?

T

[KB2WIG]

 " Novicane"   ---- The adrenaline is used to controll bleeding, the 'caine part is the pain killer...    maybe you can try the music/headphone routine ..... klc

[WBear2GCR]

I suppose in practice that one could get "enough" of some sort of xxxcaine to numb everything from your neck up.      But... actually it depends on two things, which tooth and where in the mouth and what your ability to be "blocked" by that stuff is in the first place. Part of the mouth numbs up jes fine, and part, not so fine. I seem to never get fully numb unless I am pumped so full of the stuff I am drooling for hours..

(btw, never ever heard of anyone getting a root canal with no anethstetic (sp?) at alll...)

Also, they like to use the "stuff" with epinephrine. It helps to control bleeding, make the 'caine work a bit faster. I hate friggin ephinephring - makes me anxious and jittery for nothing, imho.

I've had two or three root canals. The first was when I was 13-14 and this boy wonder "Charles Atlas" clone off and backhands me across the front choppers. Was fine with the "proceedure" until the so called dentist stuck a wee little paper cone up into the hole he had drilled in my tooth and I practically jumped out of the chair and through the ceiling. The other two were far better affairs.

But the problem is that the tooth is then dead, and eventually will still fall apart. Of course at this point for most of us, that's not a big issue. The mercury amalgam farm in my mouth <bink, blink, stutter> hasn't effected me at all so far?

Anyhow,depending on the state of the tooth you'll be needing a crown... that's where the fun starts... do some research into what's available. Get a real pro to do the job if you can. The doc-in-a-box does a fast functional job in 1/2 the time of the high-enders... and it shows. If the tooth can be seen at all, you'll be wanted the expensive porcelain type, so that it looks like a tooth. Porcelain "over" ain't the real deal... of course molars probably don't mean too much in that respect. I've got a gold and a porcelain over one now... but heck I can chew my oatmeal Zeke 

Sure wish I knew nothing about this topic...

             _-_-WBear2GCR



PS. if the dentist provides it, and you like, al little NO2 or "laughing gas" in just the right amount is ok fine...

[Sam KS2AM]

I was on a business trip last week and a tooth started giving me trouble.  Got home to see the dentist and he told me I have an abscessed tooth and need a root canal. Anyone ever have this procedure done?  Going in tomorrow for my first and hopefully my last but don't know what to expect.  Can't say that I like having sharp pointy implements of destruction in my mouth.

I've had three.  On the first one the root was so far gone that no anesthetic was used and I really didn't feel any pain.  The second two were on basically the same molar on opposite sides of my mouth and they flared up at the same time.  These didn't go so well.  Lots of anesthetic was used and it still hurt.  A few years later the nerve on one of them got reinfected.  When that happens they don't do another root canal, your dentist usually sends you to an oral surgeon who will do an apicoectomy.  Thats where they fix the infection by taking a short cut and slice open your gum to get at the root.  The apico didn't hurt at all.  It looks something like this:

http://instruct.uwo.ca/anatomy/636/clinical%20cases/apicoectomy/gallery/pages/03.htm


Anyways, I remember the root canals taking more than one appointment.  The first one to open it up and pack it with material to dry it, then a return visit to make sure its OK and fill the cavity.


Sam  /  KS2AM

[n2bc]

I need novacaine to make an appointment with the dentist....    The root canal wasn't too bad, but he started with 5 doses of novacaine, then 3 more, then some special stuff in the roof of my mouth - that was painful even after all the novacaine but it did the trick.  I think is depends on the location of the tooth. Worst part of the procedure was the stink as noted in many posts. UGH.

As an aside.  My wife & I both have a mouthfull of fillings after abt 60 years each.  I used to dread going to the dentist as a kid, always multiple fillings.  Our kids, age 25, 24, 22, have ONE filling between them.  They all grew up on well water with prescription vitamins spiked with flouride.

Enjoy! :-)

Bill N2BC

[W1RKW]

Wow.  I didn't expect such an overwhelming response to this question.  Thanks everyone.  Hopefully this will go well and without any pain. I have two fillings in my teeth both of which required a local. Hopefully the rootcanal will be similar to having the drilling and fillings.  The good news is if you want to call it that my tooth pain has been controllable with ibuprofen and when that wears off the pain is mild.   I've been on an antibiotic for a couple of days now and hopefully the infection is under control.  There hasn't been any swelling or gum tenderness unlike other abscesses I've read and heard about. I'm heading to an endodontist this morning for the procedure. 

The thing that bothers me is I've had good dental hygiene and this happened.  My dentist thinks the tooth was traumatized and the root was damaged.  He was asking me if I grind my teeth when sleeping. I told him I did not know but there have been times when I have awakened with my mouth hurting so it's possible I guess.  I brush with a soft bristle brush, floss and use a waterpick so who knows what the cause is. Hopefully, other teeth won't go this route if I am grinding during the night.  I was in car accident a number of years ago but I didn't think I hit my mouth in the accident.  The funny thing is when I called the dentist he asked me if the pain was located on the lower right side.  I said yes but at the time I didn't think anything of his question but it makes me wonder now why he targeted that area.  I guess he saw something in the last set of x-rays.  I'll have to ask him when I see him next.

I'm not lookiing forward to having a crown.  Been there done that. It's time consuming with several visits and time is something I don't have a lot of these days.  Though my dentist is an artist when it comes to making crowns.  He did one on a front tooth I broke a number of years ago and I can't even tell that it's a fake.  He's definitely a high end dentist.

Anyway, today's the day they drill a hole in my head and fix this tooth. Thanks for all the input, words of encouragement and putting me at ease. I guess it's not as bad as I thought.  I'll be gripping a pair of pliers as pain insurance.

[NE4AM]

My own story re. root canals, last fall I had a molar that was twinge-ing, and the dentist discovered it was cracked, and needed a root canal.  The root canal was painless, other than having to listen to Oprah on the TV in the background. 

Shortly after that I was at the local pharmacy, and checked my blood pressure - and discovered it had gone up 40 points over my normal!  That should have been my first warning something was up.  A week later the tooth started throbbing - it was infected.  A round of Zithromycin took care of that - temporarily.  Four months and three rounds of antibiotic later, it finally got so bad I ended up with a 103 fever, and lost 14 lb in a week.

Finally had the tooth pulled, and within a week, my blood pressure dropped back to normal, and I now feel better than I have felt in 6 months.

Talking to my neighbor who is an MD, he says he has seen a dozen times where someone gets a root canal, and within a few months develops a heart attack, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, or some other chronic disease.  If a cracked tooth gets infected, (as mine was) it is VERY difficult to eliminate the infection, and the chronic low-grade infection wreaks havoc on your body.

Anyone getting a root canal should at the least monitor your blood pressure.  If it suddenly spikes - you could be in for some trouble.  I feel like I dodged a bullet.

Good luck to you OM.

[k7yoo]

No more painful than politics

[KB2WIG]

The link between poor oral hygene and heart disease has been proven. People with  heart  problems are even premedicated before a cleaning- not a bad idea for a person with a hip/knee replacement to be evaluated before dental work..... Bleeding gums are a sign of problems and should be taken care of.
klc