Please tell me your experience with Root Canal

[LEMONADEGIRL]

Have been having tooth ache for over 24hrs and got and emergeny appointment. The dentist took an xray as it was not a craked tooth etc and said that there was some swelling. He did not want to do anyhting else that would interfer with my dentists treatment plan. Dh was with me as I am a big wuss and hate dentists, was not happy and comaplined that I was in pain and needed something, so he persribed antibiotics.

So until Tue when I see my own dentist, have to manage on ibuprofen

He did mention I might need root canal? Now have googled it an am a bit worried. Does it take long to do and is it very painful after?

It takes a bit of time yes but as they are killing off the nerves there is no pain after.

It shouldn't be painful because you will get all numbed up first. When I had mine done, the anaesthetic didn't work too well, but they injected more directly into my tooth, which helped. I think it's down to your attitude to it to some extent. Try to relax as much as is possible, accept that it may be uncomfortable (rather than unbearable pain) and that you will need pain killers afterwards (I didn't need that much afterwards though). It can take a while (over an hour?) but compared to childbirth, it's a breeze! And it's certainly better than having toothache.

im a big baby when it comes to dentists and had root canal done 2 years ago. I had an ifection so dentist gave me anti biotics and i went back 5 days later. He then did the root canal over 2 appointments and plugged it with a temporary filling in between treatments, he also used gas and air to help me relax in chair! This worked well for me as i was only in chair having work done for 15 mins at each appointment and was chilled cos of the gas!!!!
After the root canal i had no pain but tooth has now gone funny colour.

It's not as bad as it sounds. Just takes a lot of time and repeat visits (mine took 9 visits for one tooth but I was v v unlucky). The injection is like any dental injection. Not fun but you'll be ok. The rest is uncomfortable rather than awful.

AGreed - it's uncomfortable because you have to keep your mouth open for so long but isn't painful, and wasn't painful afterwards IME. You'll be fine

Mine was same as bonkerz - infected. He also did it over two appointments.

The first appointment, he had not realised how infected it was as he poked it and I nearly shot through the roof, but he just gave me more anaesthetic. It was not nice at the time, but neither was the pain of constant toothache.

thanks all for the posts - nipped out to get the antibiotics.
I know it needs to be done as the pain just dreadful. Will have to be brave.

I had a root canal not long ago at an emergency appointment, it wasn't nice when they took the root out but that was all.
I stupidly thought the anaesthetic would numb the whole lot but it didn't.
Didn't take long though, it was just the pushing down and getting the root out that was a bit sore.
Didn't hurt afterwards but TBH the pain I was in before I went to the Dentist was much worse than the treatment.

I've had two at different times and it was ok, it didn't hurt either at the time or afterwards. My dentist had a tv on the ceiling and wireless headphone which helped a lot.

The one thing that I really didn't like was that the dentist didn't realise that there was quite a bad infection in one root (as I hadn't had much pain) so when he went in through the bottom of the tooth some pus shot out. It was the worst thing I think I've ever tasted, but I swilled my mouth out and I was fine after that.

I had one last year following a nasty tooth abcess - it was painful all weekend and I was counting down the hours until my apointment on Monday am at 9am!

I didn't find it sore at all - a relief really after the toothache. It didn't hurt afterwards either.

Be prepared for several appointments - a minimum of three.

Your dentist might want to send you to an endodontist to do the cleaning and filling.

Infact it was my first time out on my own after having my dd 4 months previously (no childcare locally). I actually found the whole thing quite enjoyable. A relaxing read of some magazines sans child - a little sleep in the chair whilst the dentist rummaged around in my mouth. I even had time to pop to a couple of shops on the way home before picking up dd. Bliss!