I just learnt a sore tooth of mine is caused by my tooth root never fully closing (due to getting braces and shifting my teeth around). Now at 30 I need a root canal.
I’ve never even had a cavity before. I’m legit terrified. Teeth are the one thing that are much worse than nails on chalkboard for me.
How was your experience been? Any words of advice or words of encouragement? I could use it :(
I’ve had good dentists that have kept me mostly pain free. Hope you have the same. For me, it’s mostly about tolerating the amount of stuff put into my mouth at once, which can be uncomfortable. But it’s not too bad. You’ll be fine I’m sure :)
I’m late to the thread, but just wanted to reiterate what others have said. The “pinch” of the anesthetic injection was probably the worst pain. The process was relatively quick, especially if they’re only doing one tooth. Heck, the real pain was covering the costs that my insurance didn’t cover. :)
My guy did have me use a bite block to hold my mouth open. Very handy, definitely made it easier. When the process was all said and done, my jaw was a bit sore from being in that position for that long. But that past very quickly.
Be sure to communicate with your dentist and be honest. Before, after, and during the procedure. You’re the patient here, and they need to listen to you especially as it pertains to what you’re feeling. If you’re still feeling anxious (and who could blame you), you might ask to have one of those heavy xray blankets. It acts like a “weighted blanket” and can really help with some of those nerves.
I had a double root canal a few months ago, no anesthesia, and literally couldn’t feel anything. The nerves on both teeth were already completely dead, there was simply no sensation at all.
The worst part in my experience was actually getting numbed. You can’t see the needle going in so a lot of people with needle phobias won’t have any problem, but for me the feeling of a needle is repulsive. After that it was smooth sailing, just a bit boring.
The pop culture reputation of dentists as literal torturers is pretty outdated. Medicine has improved a lot in a short amount of time. Just look up reviews before picking your dentist, and don’t cheap out if you can help it.
Due to poor life choices, I’ve had six.
I had a really good dentist and none of them were a big deal in terms of pain or discomfort. Just boring sitting there for long periods waiting for it to be done. I closed my eyes and meditated into a half doze. Good luck!
I agree with the other comment - root canals aren’t as terrifying as years ago. I had 2 done in the past year and the edodontist was so skilled that I didn’t even feel the anesthesia injection. The entire procedure after that was painless, and there’s literally no pain to deal with afterwards because the nerve is gone. Compare that to when I was a kid in the 90s and it was excruciating.
I’m relieved to hear it’s not that bad. I guess not knowing what a cavity filling is like is what’s getting to my head. I’ve been so anxious about it all.
Yeah, it’s really not too bad. It’s mostly boring. I brought headphones to my last room canal because I don’t like the sound the tools make (there’s some bone conduction going on, so the headphones let me drown that out) and that made the whole experience much nicer for me. I’m particularly sensitive to sounds, so sound has always been the worst part of any dental work for me.
I had a dental abscess that ultimately required a root canal to fix. Before I could go into surgery I was in the worst pain of my life. Some people exaggerate when they say they were in the worst pain of their life, so to be clear I’m rating the abscess as causing more pain than when I was hit by a car, fell off a cliff, or had life threatening appendicitis.
I had never had a root canal before, so I was pretty nervous going in. My dentist is pretty cool though, he talked me through the procedure and was very patient with me.
The surgery came in two parts. He did most of the work the first day, and had to do some finishing touches the next. Honestly, the hardest part was just sitting in the chair with my mouth open for an hour. I do remember a period where there was a lot of pressure - not pain, but pressure. That’s when they’re filling in your roots with… whatever it is dentists use.
Part of the procedure involves removing nerve tissue. That made me anxious to hear, because I imagined that was going to hurt, but I didn’t feel a thing. Well, that’s not exactly true, about halfway through the surgery I suddenly had immense relief and couldn’t feel my abscess anymore.
Root canals kind of have a bad reputation because they’re one of the more involved procedures at the dentist. I had heard horror stories and seen it lampooned on sitcoms, but the truth didn’t live up to my fears. Dare I say it, it was almost a pleasant experience.
Good luck with your procedure, you’ve got this!
Gosh that abscess sounds absolutely horrible! I’m sorry you had to experience that but interesting that the removal of the nerve was felt that way.
The removal of the root and therefore no more feeling in the tooth is the part that scares me the most about it all.
Apparently the stuff they fill the root in with is a biocompatible composite mush thing (according to the dentist today).
I appreciate all the detail and well wishes :) Makes my day a little better because I’ve been an anxious wreck haha
Well, if losing feeling in your tooth is the part that has you most anxious, then I’m pleased to report that also seems like no big deal. I had my root canal about five years ago and I often forget that it was done, my mouth feels pretty much the same.
I was a little nervous that it might be pins and needles or numbness in my mouth 24/7, but the truth is that you just… don’t feel it. Either the other nerves in my mouth are picking up the slack, or teeth just don’t have a whole lot of feeling on their own.
Wooo! 🥳 forgetting that it was even done is the best case scenario in my head. The human body is WACK.
That’s when they’re filling in your roots with… whatever it is dentists use.
It’s usually gutta percha, a kind of rubbery material.
I literally had one on Friday! Long story short: mine was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting.
I had a wisdom tooth removed a couple of years ago and that sucked but it was bearable - it hurt for about two weeks, but Tylenol made it manageable. So I was expecting something along the same lines here. The actual procedure itself was fine - the scraping out of the inside of the tooth is a weird sensation, but not painful 'cause they freeze you up. Then afterwards, once the freezing wore off it hurt for about three hours and I was expecting it to suck for a while. But I had a Tylenol and a nap, and when I woke up it wasn’t hurting at all and it’s been fine ever since.
Other people have told me that they had pain for a week or so, so your mileage may vary, but yeah for me it was literally just a few hours of discomfort and then back to normal. Nowhere near as big a deal as I thought it was going to be.
I had 4 wisdom teeth extracted at the same time when I was younger so I’m really relieved to know it won’t be anywhere like that. 🥲
I had half of one. It fixed the pain, never went back to get the other half done.
Root canals used to be a lot worse than they are now, now it’s basically like getting a cavity filled. You just get a shot and don’t feel anything painful afterwards, although the drilling is loud and you can still feel pressure.
Depending on the office they may need to put in a temporary cap and wait for the actual cap to be made off site and mailed in to them, so you may have to wear the temporary for a week or so. It’s not uncommon for the temporary cap to fall out, don’t freak out if it does. You can put it back in or leave it out and just gently brush the hole normally (it won’t be painful).
If you have a strong fear of getting a shot in your mouth, you can ask the dentist to prescribe you anti-anxiety medication to take beforehand, but you’ll need someone to drive you to and from the appointment.
But honestly it should be a huge relief once it’s done, in terms of tooth pain. It will instantly be better once the numbing wears off.
I was told I won’t need a cap as the tooth is my front tooth. One of my big concerns is how my tooth will feel when I bite things since they extract the nerves from the tooth.
I have an implant right next to my front tooth and that was such a traumatic experience for me when I got it as a teen. I’m afraid my tooth will feel like the fake one.
The front tooth is actually the easiest to do a root canal on, so it shouldn’t be bad at all. They won’t be changing your tooth much if you don’t need a cap, just cleaning out the infection and the nerve. So you shouldn’t feel any change in how it sits in your mouth or pressure against other teeth or anything like that.
I’ve had a root canal on a front tooth and the only time I can tell that it’s any different from my other front tooth is if I accidentally bump it with something, it doesn’t hurt the same way as a tooth with a nerve does. It still hurts, just from the gums rather than the tooth if that makes sense.
Don’t feel like you can’t tell your dentist you’ve had bad experiences before and are afraid, it is SUPER common and dealing with it head on is going to be a lot better than being unable to get it done during the appointment due to an anxiety attack. If you don’t feel it’s quite that bad for you then you can still ask for nitrous oxide to help you relax.
That’s honestly a relief for me to read 🥲 Your description makes sense to me and that’s a relief as well haha. My implant tooth feels very weird to me compared to all my other teeth.
I’m lucky to have a very empathetic dentist. I told her I was beyond nervous but she could see it cause my hands were shakey and I kept tearing up haha. Felt kind of embarrassing but I know she’s seen worse.
Don’t feel embarrassed at all, it’s a totally normal fear and like you said she’s definitely seen worse. You got this 💪
Had some. Not bad. The worst part is the numbing. It doesn’t hurt, it just feels strange and tastes bitter. Some advice, don’t take laxatives before the procedure. You’ll be fine.
Had one.
- it’s okay to be apprehensive
- use a reputable clinic - Dr Nick will give you PTSD
- it’s gonna cost a bit. Ensure you have insurance or a healthy bank situation. It’s like us$2k here all-in but we can get it back from taxes.
- it’s a long process and there is weird stuff going on. Listen to the practiced pros and warn them you’re a noob. They’ll understand and ideally warn you which ooky thing is happening next so at least it’s not a surprise.
- sometimes the temporary cap pops out if you have one while waiting for the permanent one. As long as you can bring it in to the office, they’ll glue it back in in 2 minutes. You want them to glue it back in.
After a period of time you will be totally unaware of it as anything other than a tooth. It’s not expected to fall out, split, or receive coded messages.
Breathe.