Root Canal - Is it painful?

[The Slab Bacon]

No more painful than politics

Hi, Skipper  If that aint the truth!

The amount of pain experienced is directly proportional to the ability and generosity
of the dentist! If you have a dentist who isint chinchy with the "Joy Juice" all will be OK-FINE! I have had 6 of them with little ot no problem.

As long as your dentist doesnt spare the 'cane it is basically painless. The hardest thing is keeping your mouth wide open for the amount of time that it takes.
The really painful part of it is the friggin cost!! Between the charge for the root canal job, and the cost of the crown, now that is painful!!

                                                                                 The Slab Bacon

[WBear2GCR]

Yeah N20... ooops!

As far as teeth grinding, the answer is a "sports mouth guard"!

The big box Mall Wart sells them for $0.99.

You dip them in boiling water, shove them into your mouth all soft, bite and *suck* - forms to your teeth.
Buy a few. Takes a bit before you get the technique/temperature just right. I seem to lose them too.
Works great.

The dentist will do the same trick for beaucoup buck$, and not much difference in performance.

      _-_-WBear2GCR

[K1JJ]

As far as teeth grinding, the answer is a "sports mouth guard"!
The big box Mall Wart sells them for $0.99.
     _-_-WBear2GCR

Yep, absolutely.

Years ago the dentist saw signs of teeth grinding and fixed me with a mouthpiece that took an hour to make, fit and fit again. It cost about $300. It fit poorly and actually hurt at times. What a hack job and waste of money.

So after I lost it, being a ham, I picked up a bunch of $1 mouth guards and have used them ever since. They fit better and work FB. In addition, if you are anal about white teeth, you can add a dab of that teeth whitner when you wear it overnight. Go to bed with green teeth and wake up smiling like Tony Robbins.

T

[W1RKW]

 Go to bed with green teeth and wake up smiling like Tony Robbins.

T

Ooba Gooba

[W3SLK]

KC said:

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

You are right that bleeding gums should be taken care of but the link between poor oral hygene and heart disease was disproven I think just last year. As a person who has heart disease in his family like bugs on a headlight, I subscribed to that and increased my oral hygene, (I never was a person for flossing but now do it religiously). I was somewhat dismayed when that news was anounce but I kept at the current level of flossing and brushing. Now what happened to that Pygmie Pony?

[K6JEK]

...

When I was a kid all the dentists I ever went to were butchers
...

I was much luckier than you.  My dentist was W6CS, Robert C Smithwick.   He once let me sit in his car and play with his new KWM-2 while the Novacaine was settling in.  I was a kid, not yet a ham and the KWM-2 was just out, maybe 1959, 1960.   How about that?   He went on to do great things, helped start the community college system in our area and found Medishare.  He was good dentist, too.

Five root canals.  No pain.  But in some cases the conditions they relieved were quite painful.

Jon

[N9NEO]

Bob,

Did you like your root canal?

[N9NEO]

And did you get any Hydrocodone?

[John Holotko]

And did you get any Hydrocodone?

Ah yes...Hydrocodone. One thing I look forward to after a dental visit. Unfortunately my endodontist never gave me any of that euphoric elixir

As far as root canals go, if you have a good endodontist he should be able to do most root canals painlessly without even novocaine. The pain is usally due to the infection and resulting abcess. A good dentist will open the tooth and drain the abcess and put you on an antibiotic for 12 to 14  days to kill the infection. After that he can usually proceed with the root  canal without the use of any painkiller. I have had 4 root canals, each one was  painless and required not a drop of pain killer.

Now, extracting teeth is another story. I have had impacted teeth exctracted in which the gum had to be cut open to extract the tooth. That requires lots of novocaine and the aftermath is verypainful for several days afterwards. The dentist who did the extraction gave me a hefty supply  of hydrocodone for that one. Quite a reward for underoing such a painful bloody procedure. Oh an rest assured, I NEEDED the hydrocodine. It hurt like hell for several days.

[John Holotko]

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...)

I have had several and the endodontist used no anesthetic. Nowdays they have the process down to a precise science. Root canals are a cinch. Tooth XO's are another story. Those are painful and require anesthetics and sometimes pain killers afterwards.

[John Holotko]

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...)

I have had several and the endodontist used no anesthetic. Nowdays they have the process down to a precise science. Root canals are a cinch. Tooth XO's are another story. Those are painful and require anesthetics and sometimes pain killers afterwards.

If the epinephrine affects you negatively you can request thatyour dentist use the novocaine without the epinephrine. Also, if you have high blood pressure tell the dentist and make sure he uses the novocaine without the epinephrine.

[WBear2GCR]

John,

If you had 4 root canals with no *caine, you had no roots that were even vaguely alive...
Otherwise you'd have been jumping out of the chair...

I had an extraction of a tooth that was amazingly badly cracked due to too much amalgam filling combined with very nice additional *rot* - had to go bye-bye, almost zilch swelling and pain after. Endodontist though... really good pro. Molar, cut the puppie in half, and whipped it out. BAMMM!

Gave me this vile swill to swish for a week afterwards and anti-boo-otics to take. No fancy codones...

The schmuck who first looked at that tooth when it was still aching and in trouble, he gave me some codones to tide me over until the anti-boo-otics kicked in... that was amusing. But I never take the full dosages myself... Yeee Haw! 

           _-_- WBear2GCR

[John Holotko]

John,

If you had 4 root canals with no *caine, you had no roots that were even vaguely alive...
Otherwise you'd have been jumping out of the chair...

Oh they were alive. If they weren't they wouldn;t have hurt enough to get me to the dentist. I'm one of those types of atleast used to be) who avoids tyhe dentist till it hurts so bad.

I had an extraction of a tooth that was amazingly badly cracked due to too much amalgam filling combined with very nice additional *rot* - had to go bye-bye, almost zilch swelling and pain after. Endodontist though... really good pro. Molar, cut the puppie in half, and whipped it out. BAMMM!

They have it down to a science these days. Nothing like the old days.

The schmuck who first looked at that tooth when it was still aching and in trouble, he gave me some codones to tide me over until the anti-boo-otics kicked in... that was amusing. But I never take the full dosages myself... Yeee Haw! 

Yes,they will sometimes give you opiates to ease the pain till the infection subsides. That's a standard procedure. Unless I am in very bad pain I like to save the hydrocodines for when I am not.. Much like heroween, they are opiates and will make you high. Just a precaution. Don;t nobody eat em for too long or you'll be singin the blues..

[W1RKW]

Boy when it rains it pours...

Haven't seen my cat now for several days.  I'm concerned something happened to her and it's my fault.
I'm being attacked by carpenter ants and none of the store bought stuff seems to work to stop them. Hopefully, it didn't do its job on my cat.

No root canal yesterday.  Endodontists is on the fence about doing a root canal. Seems to think the tooth can be saved. That's a small bit of good news. The bad news he referred me to a periodontist and so I made an appointment for Monday. Apparently the gum has pulled away from the back of the tooth and exposed the upper portion of the root causing the pain.  Pain is nearly gone, antibiotic is doing its job I guess especially since my stomach feels like crap.  Endodontists seems to think I'm in a very early stage of periodontitis.

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

Root Canal can hurt like a %^&$! I just had one done yesterday, and another three weeks before that, and another one year ago and five years ago. I'm no stranger to that type of work. Now to answer your question: Yes, it can be very painful, especially after the novacane wears off.

My advice is to DEFINITELY request nitrous oxide or "laughing gas" besides the regular novacane. The nitrous oxide will make it more tolerable besides giving your head some "candy" - hi! After the prodedure, they flush you out with raw O2 and send you on your way. Quite literally, "It's the only way to fly" with any type of painfilled work from the Dentist.

I've had root canal work done with or without any "aide" and it's never a pleasant proposition. The best I can say is you'll be glad when it's over.

Regards,
           Joe N3IBX

[K1JJ]

Wow, lots of recent root canals being done amongst the guys!  Glad yours is over with, Bob.

Bob - about your cat.  We have several, one being a Morris orange cat. She will take off for a week at a time and then return like nothing happened. Fully fed and groomed. We are convinced she has a second home somewhere.

So I made up an ID tag and put a small collar on her. It requests a phone call if found. When she takes off again, maybe we will find who the other significant is..

T

[KB2WIG]

One of the wifes chats has a microchip implanted in it. For ID purposes only.... Lots of company people live in the hood...   klc

[WBear2GCR]

Better sweep that cat... it's reporting every move you make back to an "undisclosed location..."!!

                     _-_-WBear2GCR



PS. Holotko, you one of those G. Gordo Liddy types? Hands to the flame??

[KB2WIG]

Thats OK if its the Gov. doing it... The Gov. cares about ME and will do me no harm.... klc

[W1RKW]

Hey Tom,
Yes, lots of people with root canals recently.  What's up with that.  It sounds like a pretty common thing.

Unfortunately, I don't think I'm out of the woods just yet. I'm headed to a periodontist for a third opinion on the tooth early this week.  Even though I didn't get the canal it's still possible that it's coming down the pike.  It all depends on what should be done I guess. The endodontist says the nerve in the tooth looks good and is still alive and the lower part of the root looks good. He did notice that the gum has pulled away from the upper portion of the root thus exposing it. Some deterioration has occurred.  Today I have no pain at all.  The Amoxicillin is working. I'm off the Ibuprofen I've been eating for the last week. So there's still some work to be done. I want to nip this in the bud so to speak and quit procrastinating. Unfortunately, dentists specialize only in certain areas and now it's a waiting game to see who wants to do what. Is there such a thing as a dentist who does everything?  I'm glad the pain is under control. Now I can comfortably wait until my next visit.

It's been three days since I've seen the cat, Little Miss Piggy. Every once in a while she'd disappear for a day but other times she was like clock work and she'd be here.  Maybe you're right and she's off wandering around.  I'm a little nervous however because you know how cats like to lick themselves.  I sprayed around the foundation of the house to battle the ants and though I have never seen her hanging around the edges of the foundation it's possible she got something on her and licked it off.   Maybe the odor of the pesticide is keeping her at a distance too, who knows?  I guess it's wait and see.

Wow, lots of recent root canals being done amongst the guys!  Glad yours is over with, Bob.

Bob - about your cat.  We have several, one being a Morris orange cat. She will take off for a week at a time and then return like nothing happened. Fully fed and groomed. We are convinced she has a second home somewhere.

So I made up an ID tag and put a small collar on her. It requests a phone call if found. When she takes off again, maybe we will find who the other significant is..

T

[K1JJ]

Hi Bob,

Oh, I see... you didn't actually get the job done yet, but still nursing it. I've found that they will get better for a while, but later on it will flare up and you will have to have it done eventually.  My better dentists over the years have always said to only do the work that was currently needed. A few others were more aggressive and always had a list of stuff they wanted to do NOW. I stuck with the do as you need it guys.

I've had to spray for ants every year for the last twenty years here. We've had up to seven cats at one time and all of them were free to wander. Not one has ever disappeared for good nor has died or gotten sick as a result of the spraying. Most lived to old age, like 14-19 years old.

Some return home every day, while others willl occassionally take off for a week at most, but always return. Never had one killed by a wild animal either.  People are known to drop off stray cats out here in the woods, so we get a new one every year or two. Right now there's just two cats due to a rash of old age crapouts a coupla years ago and no replacements yet...    Yaz gets along FB with them all. He's very attached to the Morris cat and gets depressed when she takes off for more than a day.

If your cat comes back, keep him in the house for a few weeks to break the roaming cycle and see what happens next.

T

[Bacon, WA3WDR]

I've had a few root canal jobs, and I have four-root molars (most people have three-root molars), so they were unusually big jobs.  I don't remember any serious pain from the work or afterwards, just awkward discomfort and of course the wonderful flavor of the rot that got drilled out. 

I still have one bad molar that kicked up bigtime back in the mid-90s, and of course I was broke and had no dental coverage at the time.  Oh boy, did that hurt.  Once in a while it swells a little, but it seems to have done its worst long ago.  I suspect that if I were to have it worked on now, it would involve some major excavation work.  I'm leaving well enough alone.

[W1RKW]

Correct Tom.  I should know better by Tuesday the actual outcome of the tooth whether it can be saved, repaired, or yanked. I'm just glad I don't have discomfort anymore.  It was driving me nuts.  I was getting to the point where I felt like pulling it myself. 

I knew a guy who worked at amotorcycle shop I used to hang out at when I was a teen.  He had a tooth that was bothering him.  Rather than go to a professional to pull it he pulled it himself using just his fingers and tossed the tooth in the trash. I thought that was pretty nuts.

OK on the cat and ant spray. Pesticides make me nervous especially when I carpet bomb my yard in the manner I did last week but I do like the end result.  I'll keep an eye out for her. Thanks.

[John Holotko]

PS. Holotko, you one of those G. Gordo Liddy types? Hands to the flame??

No no, not me pal. Although I went to the same school as Liddy I am not into the self hurt and self pain thing. I hate pain just as much as the next guy. And I dread tooth pain!! And tooth pain always happens at the worst times, like a holiday weekend when the dentist isn't in. Beleive me I am greatful for pain meds. However,  I have found that for most tooth pain large  doses of OTC Ibuprofen works quite well.  I just  take the "prescription dose" rather than the doseage on the label. As for the stronger (codan) type meds I prefer to save those for other occasions... 

[W1RKW]

Tom,
Little Miss Piggy came home tonight to pig out on a big bowl of sardines and mackeral.  Thanks for the reassurances.
BW