anyone had a root canal done before?

[PhillyB]

so over the summer in peru i started having weird pain in my lower left molars. it kind of went off and on, and then weirdly disappeared almost entirely after i returned here. foolishly i ignored it, and it'd flare up occasionally only to go away again, and i was safely able to ignore it. then over the past couple days it's suddenly gotten worse, much worse. i got a head cold a week ago and my sinuses blew up and put heavy pressure on my teeth, which made them extremely sensitive, and suddenly the pain in that tooth was damn near unbearable. i took a bit into a sammich yesterday and damn near passed out from the pain.

 

i went to the dentist today and had x-rays done and it turns out the tooth is abscessed. dammit. evidently my old filling had come out and the thing got infected and slowly decayed. the dentist recommended i have immediate surgery to get it yanked and then decide if i want to have a crown put in or not.

 

anyone dealt with these things before? dental pain is a special kind of hell and i will never take dental health for granted again, ever.

[Chimera]

Will you have to sacrifice any favorite food or drinks with a crown?

Only pain I've had was some TMJ soreness after having the wisdoms removed.

Both my oldest son and nephew faceplanted off their bikes and broke a front tooth. They were able to cap my son's tooth, but my nephew needed a root canal and they have to bleach it every so often to keep a uniform color.

I believe the general rule of thumb in dentistry is if a tooth CAN be saved, then it SHOULD be saved. But if your dentist recommends yanking it, find out if that's his professional opinion or if its because your insurance covers more for yanking instead of saving.

[Ja Rhule]

Had 2 root canals. Good times.

[carpanfan96]

I had a root canal and crown done. The worst part of the whole process was that the numbing medicine didn't do anything and my dentist numbed the wrong part of my mouth and I could feel the whole process. Hurt like hell, bunches of fun. 

 

 

. 

[Kurb]

Had one recently, didn't hurt at all really.

[carpanfan96]

Had one recently, didn't hurt at all really.

 I'm not sure because of my horrible experience, but I don't think it's supposed to hurt all that much. When I had mine done the tooth that was getting the root canal and crown was on my right side and the shot I got was in the left side of mouth. Originally it numbed my whole mouth, but Not 15 minutes into it I could feel everything on the right side of my mouth and it hurt like hell. 

[Inimicus]

The worst part of the one and only root canal Ive had was the smoke.

 

Laying there in the chair with smoke from my tooth and jawbone wafting up out of my mouth that was being held open by a device that Tomas de Torquemada deemed too cruel was the most nauseating experience of my life.

 

The Doc gave plenty of attention to the pain management so I didn't feel a thing but if I think about it long enough I can still smell my own burning flesh.

[c0r]

I've had a number of them done in the past (bad teeth genes).

 

The process at the Dr doesn't actually hurt too much - or it shouldn't. Depending on how good your dentist is, it could be tender/sore for a few days after. Once they put the crown on, you're pretty much good to go.

[Hawk]

dentistry has come such a long way when it comes to pain minimization.

[C47]

I had one when I was 19 (8 years ago). It wasn't fun, but that's because I had three more roots then most people have, and they had grown together. Hopefully yours isn't that bad. I was sent to a specialist where they had to do half in one sitting, put temporary filling in my tooth to keep it clean, and finish pulling the other roots two weeks later. 

[OneBadCat]

They aren't that bad but you will experience some pain. What hurts the most is the aftermath of soreness. Just make sure you get some hydro's out of it and you'll be fine.

[PhillyB]

sitting in the chair now, they're gonna do a root canal and cap it. if they stick a ball of ice on that sore spot one more time I'm gonna explode

[SmokinwithWilly]

Had 2 done. Hardest part of all of it was getting used to the rebuilt tooth. It's a little thicker than the old one and it took about a month to get used to the fact I didn't have something stuck on the back of my tooth.

[Dex]

You are fuged.