root canal treatment - NHS and private costs & pros and cons

Toothsmith

You obviously get on well with this dentist. Nothing untoward seems to have happened, and a couple of weeks is not an over-long wait for treatment.

This dentist is still willing to do advanced treatments on the NHS (For regular patients at least!) and isn't trying to force you to pay extra.

I feel you have a decent dentist, and you could do a lot worse.

I would stick where you are.

48 hrs is enough to take away the worst of the pain, but it will probably still feel sore until it is treated.

moomin_white

lpt wrote: »

I go to the dentist religiously and brush my teeth wellwith electric toothbrush although I find flossing very uncomfortable and so don't do it. What are the best alternatives to flossing?

ask your dentist/hygienist about bottlebrushes, these are inserted differently to floss. You should ask your dentist/hygienist as they need to decide which size would be suitable as there are many sizes and using an incorrect one could cause trauma.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

I do sympathise with you.I 've had to have several root canals over the years and they have all reacted differently.Some I did'nt know I'd had others took a few days to settle.I did have one that was still realy painful if I bit down on it months later and then settled all of a sudden overnight.Bear with it and just try not to bite down on the side it's on until it settles,which it will eventually.Also I find the area where the aneasthetic is injected can ache badly for a few days,maybe that's not helping either. Good luck.

fiscalfreckles

If it is still hurting, it might mean that the abscess isn't fully cleared. It has to drain for a while before it can all be filled & sealed. That's why the dentist won't fill it straight away.

I had an abscess last year and it took 4 trips to the dentist to sort out, being cleaned out each time, and he didn't even fill it for 3 weeks, just put cotton wool in, so that the draining could continue. He would only even put a temporary filling in when he was happy it had all drained.

If you feel pain in your cheek or face, rather than your mouth, go back and tell the dentist. If there is still infection and your tooth has been filled, your face will swell up as there is nowhere for the gas to go, and you don't want that!!

On the other hand, the pain you feel might just be tenderness from the treatment or even the anaesthetic injection.

I hope you feel better soon.

Toothsmith

Leaving teeth open is a bit 'old fashioned' now.

Yes, it lets a lot of pus out (There aren't any gasses involved),but it also lets IN a whole load of other bugs that can then be very difficult to get rid of.

It is sometimes used as a 'last resort' if absolutely everything else doesn't seem to work, but with the advances in materials and regimes available nowadays, it should be very rare for a tooth to need to be left open.

Abcesses don't fully clear for a fair few weeks after the root filling has been finished, it's just that by taking away the cause of the abscess, (The dead nerve) the body's own defences can then get to work on the infection it's caused.

Root fillings are often sore after the first visit, because the filing and drilling does tend to stir things up a bit. As Donteatthat said.

If it's anything worse than a couple of painkillers can handle though, get in touch with the dental practice for advice.

lpt_2

Thank You Tootsmith - you have told me what my sensible head said! She has always been good. The pain has eased a little again today -I guess it is just time and getting the treatment done! For a phobic patient I am being very brave! Thanks again for all replies! I will ask about the brushes when I go.

Froglet

Hi,I hope you don't mind me joining in the conversation and asking toothsmith a question?

Have just been back again to my private dentist,after a check up last week after some discomfort and sensitivity which i thought was coming from the receding gum behind crowns at the top of my mouth.After the check up it flared up and i was in agony ,but after a few days of antibiotics it calmed down.However this week the throbbing returned and so did sharp pains from my bottom tooth.Today she has done a temporary filling in the bottom far right tooth after dicovering the nerve was exposed and the filling disintegrating.(Something like that anyway!!) She took xrays as well,as she did last week so she is thorough.

She suggests root canal treatment rather than extraction but i have already paid a lot in the last week and it is going to be expensive,though from reading posts on here ,nearly £300 is not the higher end of the charge for this treatment.She says without the tooth i will have difficulty eating as the teeth next to it are missing.

What is your opinion? Should i try and save the tooth ?

Toothsmith

I would really need to see the mouth in question to be able to give my opinion here.

If other teeth in the area are missing, it does make that one more important, but an equally important question is how long does she think the tooth is likely to last after the treatment, and will it then require crowning? Most if not all, root filled teeth do.

blured

Hello Toothsmith and all,

I am looking for some advice with my current problem, it has been interesting reading the other posts on this thread, any help at all will be gratefully received.

Over the last week or two i have been expereincing pain in my lower jaw, which began to swell about 4 days ago. The pain was severe - and i consider myself to have quite a high pain threshold - leading to sleeplessness and bad temper :eek:

I put off going to my dentist as about 14 months previously i had expereinced a similar pain - though it got much worse this time - and when i saw my dentist he put it down to tooth grinding in my sleep - probably stress related - which had damaged the area where the teeth sit. Awreness of this and ibuprofen solved this at that time and i figured it would this time also.

anyway - to cut a long story a bit shorter i went to my dentist yesterday and was diagnosed with an infected root canal. He said it needed immediate treatment.

He opened up the tooth - Lower Right 6 - and flushed out the infection via the back root. He was unable to complete the root canal work as the front roots were blocked and he did not feel that he had the ability / tools to complete. He temporary filled the tooth and has recommedned the following treatment plan:

1. Referral to Endodontist and root canal treatment - 559.00
2. Cores and crown prep and impressions - 342.00
3. Porcelain bonded crown - 249.00

Now the is quite a hefty treatment bill for me - and i guess in typical MSE fashion i am trying to find best value....

The tooth in question has had a fair bit of money spent on it in the past, some 4 years ago a deep pulp cap filling - it was probably this filling that caused the infection - my dentist hypothesising that my grinding pushed it down that little bit causing the body to react to it as an infection / foreign body.

We discussed extraction and my dentist said that he thinks the tooth is worth saving. If he did take it out because of the way my mouth is and the location of that tooth i would not be able to do without it and would require an implant. he said my jaw woulkd misalign, and the tooth behind it would tilt forward - not sure if this is true but i guess he is the expert. The implant would be more expensive.

My wife said to me after - she had spokenn to her mum - that i should have just gone straight to guys hospital and they would have done the treatment there as root canal infection is dangerous and they would have had no choice. She has suggested to me i could still do this as essentially the work has not been done, i have esssentially just been prescribed anti-biotics whislt awaiting a specilaist appointment.

So my questions are:
1. Does what my dentist recommend look realistic / value for money?
2. Would it be more cost effective to cut my losses on this tooth - go for the extraction and implant? would this save money over the long term?
3. Could i bowl up to Guys dental and get them to do the work for nothing?
4. If i go for the current treatment option, is porcelain crown the way to go?


Sorry for the length of the post,

Dave

Toothsmith

Again - this is ifficult to answer without seeing you, but here goes.

1. It seems like the dentist has given you a very comprehensive list of alternatives, and has discussed them well with you.That makes me think that he is genuinely interested in your long term care, and as such, I think you have agood dentist there. It is value for money if you feel the same way.

2. A root filled tooth will not last forever, but neither will an implant. If you go for the root filling/crown option, you will probably need an implant a few years down the line. If you go for the implant straight away, then what will you have when this fails in the end? That will depend on how it fails and what will be left to work with.

Now - hopefully the life span of both treatments should be a good 10+ years - if it's shorter you really should question if it's worth it. But if you go for the root filling now, then in 10+ years you can have an implant, which should be good for another 10+ years.

If you go for the implant first, then what happens when that fails is in the lap of the gods.

3. I don't know the admissions policy for Guys

4. I'm a big fan of gold crowns for teeth in areas you hardly see. That's a matter of personal preference though. Porcelain bonded crowns are perfectly good, and look more tooth like.