does a root canal hurt as much as having a tooth pulled?

Answer 1

All depends upon the dentist! A root canal is long and your mouth gets tired of being held open. There is a lot of tugging and jerking but for the pain it's all up to the doctor. Usually you are numb enough and no worries. A little uncomfortable but no pain. A root canal takes two or more visits. Then comes the core and crown and a whole lotta money! so you can have a completed root canal in two, three or four visits, all depending upon your teeth and your dentist? But pulling a tooth is more painful than a root canal. Not the procedure but the recovery after. I never needed vicodin after a root canal but I did after a tooth extraction! Cost ias the main difference between the two procedures, an extraction is cheap maybe $100 or under but a root canal is thousands, However with an extraction you are left with a BIG hole, an empty space! With a root canal the only hole is in your wallet!

Answer 2

Having a tooth pulled is painless, at that moment, however if there is difficulty in the healing, it can be very painful-fever for a few days. You have to remember once a tooth is gone, it's gone forever. Replacement appliances are VERY EXPENSIVE.

Having a root canal is bothersome, and yet your mouth will be anesthetized for the proceedure. The actual filing out of the tooth nerve is not as bad as your toothache has probably been. What you will feel is not so much that individual tooth, but afterward, you may feel a general ache to your jaw and feel somewhat exhausted. Not to worry, by the next morning you'll be fine.
Root canal gives "new life" to a tooth for a number of useful years ahead.

Answer 3

the root canal itself doesn't hurt. Your gum is numbed first, and the root canal is just cleaning out the roots of the tooth and filling them so you can keep the tooth and get a crown put on it.

The novocaine shot hurts for a few seconds (unless you go to a dentist who advertises himself "pain free"- those dentists give you the shot in a way that really doesn't hurt at all).

I would rather have a root canal than have the tooth pulled.
I have had four wisdom teeth pulled and that hurt more than my root canals.

Answer 4

When I had a root canal it did not hurt at all. The dentist numbed the area around the tooth and all I felt was a little pressure but NO pain.

Answer 5

I have had both and honestly having the tooth pulled was much less painful; but then again I was in pain for the root canals anyway as I had knocked my front teeth out in a motorcycle accident and the nerves were exposed.

Answer 6

No. I had 8 teeth pulled before orthodontics. Had 1 root canal. I'd take a root canal ANY day! Best to you! -)=

Answer 7

Neither should hurt if done properly Root canal treatment is more prolonged but better to keep the tooth

Answer 8

Different people feel the sensation of pain differently.
Non-traumatic extractions are very gently and cause little discomfort.
The same may be said of root canal therapy.
Unfortunately, there is no concise definitive answer for this question.

Answer 9

It depends on your individual situation, and how much drugs you get. :-)

I've had both, and the root canals were more painful. Granted, they were many years ago, and I'm guessing that drugs have gotten better since then.

I'm talking about the immediate moment of the procedure; extractions were more painful afterwards, just due to the stress put on the mouth.

Answer 10

no...i had 2 root canals...and they dont hurt at all. They give you a whole lot of Novocaine, you cant feel your entire face.