Is it more fun to have root canal treatment or to have a tooth removed?

[HerBeatitudeLittleBella]

Discuss!

I have to do one or the other said the emergency dentist. So what's the pros and cons of each?

This is obviously a new definition of the word 'fun' I wasn't previously aware of.

I had a root canal done about 20 years ago, which I don't remember as being terribly traumatic, but I recently had to have it crowned.

The dentist put a temporary crown on while the real one was being made. She told me to be careful not to eat anything too hard or sticky or the temporary crown might come off, so I spent 2 weeks practically living on purees. Whenthe dentist tried to remove the temporary crown it was welded so firmly to the stump she had to chip it off bit by bit....

Now that was not fun....

I paid for root canal (£300 ), last June and now my tooth feels a little bit sore. I kept meaning to have a crown fitted but something else always came up and I fear it may have to come out, so there goes my money down the drain!

It didnt really hurt that much, but keeping your mouth open for that long kinda aches. I also kept thinking of the relief of not having toothache kept me going.

You need to think that if you are going to have root canal, you really need to get a crown fitted asap to stop it from coming brittle and that.

Root canal is better than extraction, especially if it's a big tooth.
But my root canal went terribly wrong and ended up having it extracted, which was a pain free, but quite shocking experience, tbh.

if you have an nhs dentist the root canal should be covered by the £44.60 price band

You really need to interrogate your dentist a bit on this one. Ideally you want to keep the tooth. But root canal is expensive and it might not work, leading to more root canal or an extraction in timea anyway. In which case, go with the extraction and hope that at some point you can afford implants to replace the tooth.

Might depend on where the tooth is?
I have had root canal twice and it was the worst thing ever.
Then the third time he suggested removing it instead - its a back tooth one from the back - and i never missed it - the others kind of closed over the gap anyway.
Tis also much cheaper - and over in minutes!

i've had both lol.

the first time i went for the 'out' option as i'd heard so many horror stories about root canal.

dentist couldn't get all the tooth out, had smashed it all up and was strining and tugging and wrenching for ages, and then just gave up. prescribed me anti-b's so that the huge gaping jagged hole in my jaw wouldn't get an infection whilst i waited a week or so for a referral for general anaesthetic and surgery.

traumatised? the next day i drove 80 miles to a private dentist who had agreed to have another go, but could refer me within 24 hours for surgery if nec. he did manage to get it out and i spent literally a week in bed, swollen and bruised.

my root canal (lol) i had anticipated would be an easier option. my only comment would be - make sure your dentist has done some really really good x-rays, because if the root has any twists and turns, or, god forbid, right angles, in it, it's a tad trickier. like virtually impossible. mine took two hours and they had to clear the surgery because he couldn't say when / if he'd ever be finished... he was a shadow of his former self when i finally left.

what to do, what to do...

Depends on where tooth is & the reason for treatment.

If there is some sort of infection affecting the nerves, anesthetics won't help much so your nerves will be drilled out alive, as it were. I had one of these, and honestly, it was the worst pain ever. Worse than childbirth, if you can believe it.

i must have been lucky as both my root canals were fine. not that painful.

how would a root canal mean that you would eventually lose the tooth anyway? don't get that.

It really depends how attached you are to the tooth.

I had severe dental phobia but now have a brill dentist who has done 3 root canal treatments for me (2 on one tooth). I can honestly say they are boring rather than painful. If you're in pain then the dentist hasn't used enough anaesthetic. Despite their general crapness I'm very attached to my teeth and want to do everything I can to save them now. Luckily I can afford the treatment otherwise I would have had the back one taken out I think. The other one was a front tooth so there was no way I wanted that removing.

I've also had 2 back teeth taken out because they'd decayed rather than abscessed, very quick and easy and cheap and as they were far back teeth I wasn't too bothered.

Not sure if all that helps you make a decision or not though

sea - i think they just get more brittle and are more prone to need capping or taking out later...

'course, there's no actual guarantee with a root canal either... so you might fork out the cash and then have to pay to get it taken out anyway...

I had the same choice recently.
I am only 41 and decided I was too young to start losing teeth if I could help it.
Decade ago I had a wisdom tooth pulled (rotten root) and it was quick and easy.
Root canal was much harder, takes forever and involved 2 appts, many injections and lots of spent money, but also bearable (I heart my dentist).

It makes me sick thinking about what RC involves, though (scraping, filing, tugging), and there's still the crown to come in 6 months (more filing down, ). Crown only if the RC "settles" (isn't causing me long term pain, in which case tooth might be pulled after all). I am getting niggles now -- it may not settle.

One cool thing, I'll be getting a gold crown because it's a back molar and gold is superior material to ceramic (dentist tells me).

RC much more expensive option.