Do root canals hurt?

[vanillaskin]

I’ve got a tooth that is being a pain. My dentist drilled down to the nerve and packed with biodentine and I went back to have a filling on top of it
since the filling was added, it’s sensitive again to hot and cold

when he drilled down he said he couldn’t numb it like an extraction? And it was not pleasant!
I am worried the nerve isn’t dead and how much it will hurt if it’s not numbed like last time as I’m not a great dentist patient!

No. No dental treatment hurts. They fully numb you.

The issue is having your mouth forced open if it's at the back. That can feel a little uncomfortable.

But no they don't hurt and once it's done there's no root so it's impossible for the tooth to hurt. But you must be really careful to keep it clean as they trap dirt more than normal tooth.

Never felt mine

Ok so sensitivity to hot and cold only which is of instant duration is suggestive of a healthy response from the nerves in the tooth. Hopefully it is some exposed dentine. If it is this sensitive toothpaste can help (try it)

prolonged pain from hot and cold (more than a few seconds) suggest a reversible pulpitis, where the nerve is a bit annoyed but can recover. If you are experiencing this then hopefully the biodentine will keep it at that and the nerve will eventually recover, and the pain will settle, so it’s a case of waiting and hoping that the nerve was irritated by the filling procedure and it recovers.

If the pain then changes to an extreme pain that is of longer duration, that happens spontaneously and stops responding to hot and cold then this is a nerve that is dying (irreversible pulpitis). This is when you ask for an appointment.

hopefully it’s the first thing. So give it the weekend and see how you go.

Please ignore my comment. The rest of the thread didn’t load before I replied.
I’m sorry it didn’t work out. It sounds like all that could be done was done.

You've been very lucky!
I've had a lot of dental work, my teeth are the product of 1960s school dentists and I can tell you that plenty of dental treatment hurts.

OP I'm sorry it's failed after all that. Hope you think it was worth a try to save it.

It was, but just a very expensive way
if I had it extracted I could have afforded an implant but I’ve spent that on the root canal and crown
they’re trying antibiotics for a week but not hopeful

I do know that my mum and older friends say it all used to hurt. I'm sorry you had to go through that.

But yeah I guess I've been lucky in that anything I had was in the last 20 years.

It's bad luck it didn't work and I guess extraction is the only way now? I just had LL7 removed 3 months ago and I'm only just starting to chew on that side. I look like I had buccal fat removal gone wrong on one side but it is getting better the more I chew on it!

https://www.dentalsky.com/wand_dental?srsltid=AfmBOop7hLDAXJdR0Wf5bqvJC8wy9yLNn1L9MIeRNbA6iZj8d6PmyQgM

There are other models now that work in the same way. The one my dentist has has two ways of doing it, and it depends on the tooth which one he uses (i.e. What amount of anasthesia it needs, if it is top or bottom as the nerves work differently).

For top teeth, I honestly do not feel a thing. He'll hold the wand (or whatever one he uses, I forget!) against my gum until the machine says anaesthetic is delivered. I had a bottom root canal done recently and he used the other method but into the tissue under the gum rather than the gum itself, and I felt a teeny tiny prick then but I mean tiny, and for a millisecond.

Dental injections were invented during the reign of George the 5th, and I've had far too many(albeit a long time ago!) that I found excrutiating. Another plus point is that dentists who use the wand or similar methods also seem to be superior in other ways, having more modern technology, and happier, more enthusiastic dentists who actually like and care about their jobs. But that's just my experience.

@OffTopicly
Thanks for that info, I've never heard of it but it sounds brilliant! Injections don't bother me but I know people who absolutely dread them. I hope every practice will have the wand before long.

Dentist here. Of course we have the skills to do root canal treatment. We were trained in this as undergraduates and do them every single day. It’s no massive big deal, and with proper anaesthetic you should not feel a thing. The essentials I think are rubber dam for full protection and isolation and a decent pair of Loupes for magnification.
I only very rarely refer to a specialist. They are expensive but do have, as you say specialist equipment. The cases requiring specialist intervention include young people who have had trauma, a tooth that hasn’t settled which maybe has a hidden canal, or where I suspect there may be a perforated root ( extremely rare in an experienced professional) that might need repaired. There are a few other cases.
point being specialists take on the hard cases and generalists deal with the more straightforward ones

Root canals do not hurt. The pain before you get it done (initial pain) does hurt. A lot of dentists don’t like doing them as it takes a long time. If you have narrow canals like I had then it’s complex and can take more time. The only pain I had when having mine was because they didn’t numb my gum before anaesthetic and yes it bloody hurt, the needle. I’m normally fine with needles. I don’t like the burning smell either but that is using something called gutta percha which seals the canals.

You’re trained I agree but my usual dentist refused to do it as he said “it takes a long time to do”. So I had to find another dentist for mine.

The pain before is horrific, I was banging my head on my headboard of my bed and luckily had oil of cloves and strong painkillers, but I still felt pain. Have never ran so quickly to the dentist before after this pain and happily handed over money! My best friend had this too at the same time, we were both late 40s.