Terrified. Root canal at 12pm help?

System

You should be there now. Hope your wait is over soon. Let us know how you get on.

Hermia

I hope you have survived!

Personally I have always found root canals less painful than having a big filling.

suburbanwifey

Hi all,

I'm back. It wasn't great it has to be said so I'll tell you how it went.

Went in just before 12 and asked him how long the appointment was for and he said 15 minutes. I then mentioned that I had seen on the internet that an average appointment time is around 45 mins? he said he was doing it in stages :huh: I then went on to explain that I was terrified, didn't handle pain well and asked him to give me twice as much anesthetic as normal. He did give me 2 jabs in the gum etc and then he started. I was in a panic to be honest, raising my hand and having a bit of a squeak until I then slightly screamed. He then stopped! and said to nurse, more please. He then jabbed me again. He was doing AWFUL drilling for what seamed like forever but I did not feel any more pain, it was just bone tingling, the noise and vibration. Then it felt like he was pushing a long scrubbing brush up and down inside my jaw, backwards and forwards for what seemed like forever (again no pain) and then he asked for a different size and it felt like he was cleaning out a chimney with a brush. Then it was over.

I asked him if that was the worst bit, he said 'Not sure? I asked why and he said I have to go back in 2 weeks to see if all infection has gone. If it has, he will fill the roots and then it would be 3 months before I could get my broken crown replaced. I asked why 3 months? and he said that he could not crown a tooth if it was infected and he needed to make sure all infection was gone etc.

3 lots of anesthetic and when I came out and went to toilets for mirror to look, my face looked like I had had a stroke. It still does! and its now 2 hours later !!! but some feeling is coming back and I am starting to feel pain which is at the level that it was in the tooth prior to antibiotics a week ago

So, good and bad. Maybe mine was a particularly bad tooth to work on? I don't know. Is it odd it only took 20 minutes when you all seem to have been in an hour?

warehouse

I'm glad it's all over for you SW, but I'm a little concerned that the dentist appeared to be in a rush. There's no way that root canal can be done in 15 minutes.
I don't know if being very scared affects how long the pain relief takes to work, but my own dentist now leaves me a minimum 5 minutes after giving injections before starting work, this is because the drugs took ages to kick in once and they kept giving me more and more to the point that I couldn't feel my tongue for 2 days afterwards, (dentist thought she'd bruised a nerve with the needle).
Any dentist who rushes his patients appointments for whatever reason doesn't sit well with me.
Anyway, the long scrubbing brush thing is about right, and if you had the same as me then he'll also have put some lovely nasty tasting liquid in there to help fight any possible infection.
Two weeks is about right for the infection side, but 3 months to refit a crown sounds completely the opposite of my own experiences. It sounds more like he'll be in the new financial year by then!!!!

suburbanwifey

warehouse wrote: »

I'm glad it's all over for you SW, but I'm a little concerned that the dentist appeared to be in a rush. There's no way that root canal can be done in 15 minutes.
I don't know if being very scared affects how long the pain relief takes to work, but my own dentist now leaves me a minimum 5 minutes after giving injections before starting work, this is because the drugs took ages to kick in once and they kept giving me more and more to the point that I couldn't feel my tongue for 2 days afterwards, (dentist thought she'd bruised a nerve with the needle).
Any dentist who rushes his patients appointments for whatever reason doesn't sit well with me.
Anyway, the long scrubbing brush thing is about right, and if you had the same as me then he'll also have put some lovely nasty tasting liquid in there to help fight any possible infection.
Two weeks is about right for the infection side, but 3 months to refit a crown sounds completely the opposite of my own experiences. It sounds more like he'll be in the new financial year by then!!!!

Warehouse, the anesthetic has all but worn off now and I am in such pain I could cry, worse than before the procedure. I have taken 400mg ibuprofen and 2 paracetamol an hour ago and I can still feel it. Has something gone wrong? should I worry (apart from the agony and no I am not exaggerating)

warehouse

suburbanwifey wrote: »

Warehouse, the anesthetic has all but worn off now and I am in such pain I could cry, worse than before the procedure. I have taken 400mg ibuprofen and 2 paracetamol an hour ago and I can still feel it. Has something gone wrong? should I worry (apart from the agony and no I am not exaggerating)

No, absolutely not, please don't worry. Keep taking the painkillers. All will be good and the worst is over, (no more drills in mouth)! Some of us feel the pain worse than others, and from what you've posted today I'd say your slightly more tender than the norm.

Why not call the surgery and ask for advice on the best pain killers to use? They'll also put your mind at rest.

warehouse

...and read this, especially the part about after root canal treatment.

http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/abyss/Root-Canal-03-Pain.htm

custardy

suburbanwifey wrote: »

Warehouse, the anesthetic has all but worn off now and I am in such pain I could cry, worse than before the procedure. I have taken 400mg ibuprofen and 2 paracetamol an hour ago and I can still feel it. Has something gone wrong? should I worry (apart from the agony and no I am not exaggerating)

root canal can be very painful
I had one last week(not my 1st) and the pain on the day was immense
I was taking my old prescription meds form my shoulder op!
stick with it and by tomorrow the pain should subside by a large degree

System

Wheres Toothsmith or Brook2Jack when we need them?

Its probably a bit soon to see if the pain will ease i would have thought. Mind you, my dentist gives us so much anaesthetic it takes hours to wear off.

brook2jack

A couple of comments.

Pain is very poorly understood but in terms of dental pain there are a couple of generalisations you can make....

Your anxiety level makes a massive difference to the amount of pain you feel. When you are very anxious the adrenaline has effects on your heart making you feel shakey and jittery and it affects the way your brain processes the signals your nerves give out. Typically it becomes difficult for your brain to differentiate between pressure (vibration etc) and pain. You become hypersensitive to touch and vibrations.

So it's important that you don't go ramping up the tension before an appointment. You can do that in several ways (don't get googlitis) , focus on the positive aspects of treatment (how good will it feel not have toothache). More importantly don't keep going over the negative aspects of treatment.

A dentist can help by prescribing oral sedatives which help this process and help nervous people deal with treatment.

If you were having surgery on any other part of your body you would expect it to ache a bit afterwards and teeth are no different. Simple painkillers normally help, but ask your dentist if concerned.

Most dentists will leave a tooth several months before crowning as they want to make sure the tooth has settled.

The amount of time spent on root treatment will vary... a front tooth with one root takes much less time than a back tooth with four roots. Also this sounds as if the tooth was quite infected so rather than doing it all in one you your dentist is taking at least two appointments.

You coped with the appointment, the injections worked, yes you felt strange sensations , but no pain. That is positive and this is what you need to focus on ready for your next appointment.