Terrified. Root canal at 12pm help?

suburbanwifey

brook2jack wrote: »

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.

Thanks very much brook2jack, that was all very helpful and encouraging and reassuring. Thanks x

suburbanwifey

Hi everyone who helped:

After I posted on my return from the dentist yesterday afternoon, I then waited and read all the wonderfully helpful and reassuring comments and then decided, as per some of your advice, to call the dentists to inquire about my pain levels. Called up and spoke to receptionist to whom I explained what was going on ie: anesthetic fully worn off, pain at a more severe level than prior to root canal and also after taking 400mg ibuprofen and 100mg paracetamol. She seemed concerned so went to speak to Gary the dentist. She came back and said he had told her that there was still a lot of infection on the tooth when he did the procedure (and following 7 days antibiotics) and a certain amount of pain following the procedure was normal. However, if the pain was at the same level by 8am tomorrow (ie today) I must call them back and they would get me in for an emergency appointment to take a look at what was going on. I asked if he had removed all the infection. She replied that he had said he had but the treatment was split in two parts as when I went back in 2 weeks he would be checking all infection was gone prior to root filling. All he has done so far is remove the roots and clean out infection (stage 1) etc. So she told me to keep taking painkillers, see how it was this morning and phone in at 8:30am if it was no better.

What happened then:

Had an uncomfortable early evening. Wanted large glass of wine as feeling very sorry for myself but hubby wouldn't let me as just finished course of antibiotics that morning and was not allowed alcohol until all medication removed from system. I then sulked under blanket with pain. I'm not sure at what point in the evening I barely started to feel anything as I was watching TV and I just noticed about 11pm that it didn't hurt as much.

Had a good nights sleep, woke up this morning and just a mild ache. So didn't phone in.

You were all right

So, today its now 1:10pm and just took a few more ibuprofen but just a mild ache and I was able to eat pizza for breakfast this morning (left over from last night as I couldn't eat due to pain)

So, I think its all going well.

Thanks so much to everyone.

suburbanwifey

Judi wrote: »

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.

I was quite shocked at what happened to my face! I asked him for double shots and he gave me it and then after the scream in the chair (when drilling) he gave me more, so I had 3. My face on the right hand side fell downwards and my lip on right hand side was twice as long as it used to be. Got some funny looks walking back to the car and could barely speak. Lots of stuff in me, but at least eventually I felt no pain, the stroke look wore off by 8pm, it took a while.

motherofstudents

I didn't realise about anxiety affecting pain levels. I don't have any anxiety about goint to the dentist (it's doctors and hospitals for me so I do understand). I had my root canals done - two at the front on two separate visits and each took 45 minutes.

I felt quite dizzy when I got up from lying down so long but otherwise it was fine. I didn't need painkillers. There was no infection or pain before however, I was just preparing to have two crowns.
Hope you feel much better soon SW.

suburbanwifey

motherofstudents wrote: »

I didn't realise about anxiety affecting pain levels. I don't have any anxiety about goint to the dentist (it's doctors and hospitals for me so I do understand). I had my root canals done - two at the front on two separate visits and each took 45 minutes.

I felt quite dizzy when I got up from lying down so long but otherwise it was fine. I didn't need painkillers. There was no infection or pain before however, I was just preparing to have two crowns.
Hope you feel much better soon SW.

I've been though hell with 3 of my teeth the past 5 years. Was in a serious head on collision 5 years ago (drunk driver almost killed me and hubby) and I lost one tooth on right hand side. That has been going through the implant procedure last 10 months - finally got the dental implant 2 weeks ago. Having a tooth back is simply awesome! Gary did that and that procedure was not even half as bad as this root canal hell. The tooth next to it was damaged too, this is the one he is currently root canalling prior to replacing the broken crown on it. Then he has to fix the last tooth on right hand side, top of mouth as that was smashed too, corner broke off. That just needs filling he thinks but if it doesn't take, it will be crowned. I am so sick of the hell that crash caused my teeth. Worse than recovering from all the other hell I went through after that crash. Physical injuries all healed by 3 years, still working on repairing the teeth.

Infection in my tooth was so bad maybe that's why mine getting done in two batches and also why so much pain. He put me on antibiotics for week prior to root canal and still pain was there the morning of surgery.

I don't handle pain well as a drunk almost killed me in a crash and I developed quite severe PTSD which is still there even now, though now its just when I am fearing pain and death. That drunk has a lot to answer for She ruined 3 of my teeth!

gingin_2

suburbanwifey wrote: »

I don't handle pain well as a drunk almost killed me in a crash and I developed quite severe PTSD which is still there even now, though now its just when I am fearing pain and death. That drunk has a lot to answer for She ruined 3 of my teeth!

I hope you're getting compensation for what she's put you through - I'm not normally an ambulance chaser but this sounds horrific.

clairemosa

Before I had the same notion about having root canal. Lot of people say its painful and all the scary stuff, but I've got to deal with it. To sum up my experience it isn't that scary. Yeah the process is very long but I was able to tolerate the pain. I hope you're fine by now.

suburbanwifey

gingin wrote: »

I hope you're getting compensation for what she's put you through - I'm not normally an ambulance chaser but this sounds horrific.

Yes, it was horrific. She got a custodial sentence (suspended) and the rest so justice was done on all counts. Thanks x

no1catman

I've had it done twice. Once in a Dental Hospital - I remembered for a time the size of the rods they were putting in to support the filling.
The worst part - apart from the '!!!!!' of the needle was the feeling of the drill going up and up through my head! But in reality just into my jaw.
The second time - no jab., but no pain - nerve already 'dead' - no problem.

runninglea

Had mine done a week last friday

However been up all night in severe pain with a sharp pain

Have used up all my antibiotics and not got my follow up appointment until 28/2

What should I do?