What is root canal treatment. Am scared to death to visit the dentist!?

Question

After Xray of my tooth, the doctor suggested a root canal treatmrnt. Friends tell me this a VERY painful proceedure, and that I should opt to remove the tooth. Generally I hate dental visits even at my age of 54!!

Answer 1

I'm 53 and I hate dental visits, too.

Root canal sounds pretty bad when explained. However, I've had a couple in the last five years and it's not so bad. If you want to know the procedure, here it is:

The dentist drills through the crown of the tooth to expose the roots from the inside. S/he then uses scraping tools to remove all the root tissue. At this point, sometimes tiny screws are driven through the base of the root into the underlying bone, to hold the tooth firmly in place. The opening in the tooth is then filled and the crown's surface restored. All this work is done while under a local anesthetic, such as procaine (Novocaine).

To be honest, I had a root canal that was botched and it was miserable afterward for years. The dentist cracked the root and the tooth ultimately had to be pulled out sideways. I've since had two more root canals that were a piece of cake.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Root Canal Treatment (RCT) can be a pleasure or a pain.

It is usually offered when a tooth has presented with an apical infection (root end- in bone and gum). Due to this infection being present the local aneatstetic may need to be doubled or tripled to balance out the PH levels (acid infection/alkaline injection). This is particularly true with RCT on the lower molars (chewing teeth).

This is why there is always horror stories of people who have undergone RCT. While the procedure is the same for all patients- every patient reacts differently to the anaestetic.

So long as you let your dentist know if you still feel pain, and request a top up injection, you should be fine!

Stage one involves:
-drilling through the crown of the tooth to expose the nerve
-removing the nerve with endodontic files
-placing medication inside the now open root canals to deaden the tooth permanantly
-temporarily sealing it off to let the medication take effect.

Stage two involes:
-removing the temporary filly material
- cleaning out the old medication and smoothing the walls of the canal
-placing very thin rubber points inside the canal to seal it off so that no more bacteria can grow inside

The last stage would then be to either seal off the work using normal filling material so long as not much tooth structure had been destroyed, or suggesting a crown for longevity if the tooth was too far decayed.

BTW- keep your teeth as long as you can! Removing even one can make your occulsion (bite) shift and you'll end up spending more on fixing that than a root canal!

Answer 3

Try not to worry. root canal treatment always sounds worse than it is, and people are always saying it is sore. But, in reality, it really is no worse than getting a filling. The dentist will numb the area before starting the work, then he will do the first bit of the treatment - basically just clearing out the tooth. Then a temporary fill will be put in, and you would need to go back after about 10 days to get the permanant fill done. Again, this part will be done under numbing, although theoretically it wouldn't be sore since the nerve is removed during the first part. I would say this, though - try not to read up in too much detail about how the procedure is done and with what instruments - I made this mistake and while it wasn't physically sore, I could just imagine each part. Sometimes ignorance is bliss! All you need know is it won't be sore and is really not too bad to get done. Try to relax as well beforehand, being uptight makes any dental procedure worse.

Answer 4

My dentist was thoroughly amazed when I managed to fall asleep while he was doing my root canal procedure. If the area has been properly frozen, and your dentist takes the precaution of stretching that rubber membrane over your exposed mouth to keep any bits from flying down your throat, there is no reason that getting a root canal should be a bad experience. And once the thing is done, it's going to be permanent....no more toothache. No more pain when you chew. And you still have that tooth to chew with! Isn't that worth it?

Answer 5

How did you get 54 without having to have a foot canal? It isn't that bad and well worth it to save a tooth.My roots are very long and still I would do it over loosing a tooth.

Answer 6

the root canal procedure does not hurt. the intense inflammation caused by bacteria getting into the tooth's nerve that finally drives the phobic patient to the dentist's office is what hurts. once you are numb, a root canal procedure does not hurt. i will die happy once people learn to differentiate the two.

Answer 7

OMG -anyone who said that it's very painful is a total *** ,and needed to tell their dentist they were experiencing pain ,they numb you so you don't feel the pain! I've had 3 root canals and none of them where painful because I told my Dentist to double the dose of the shot they use to numb me!It worked and saved the tooth! Go for it , just remember to tell your dentist to numb you good ,and let them know when your in pain!It shouldn't hurt to go to your dentist!

Answer 8

Root canals are a breeze(I've had many). I was concerned at first but the procedure itself wasn't that bad. Now after the local wears off..well, they'll give you a script for painmeds usually. GOOD LUCK!

Answer 9

In life there are many hard choices to make. It's funny how just taking out a tooth could be such a hard decision. Ok, I would go through with it. It is just one of those things that have to be done in life because it will get worst and will cause more damage later on.
Good luck with it! ;)

Answer 10

it will hurt if you DONT get it done. The infection and pressure from it is what is causing pain not the procedure. When they take the roots out and clean out the infection your tooth is no longer alive and doesn't have feeling.