Root Canals suck!!!

[RdEoSg]

And I look like a chipmonk!!!! grrrrrr I am getting really sick of soup as well! Ah well.. I had the procedure yesterday and the pain has dropped a lot. Doc says it will take a few more days for the infection to go away.

Anyone else?

[jaapv]

Ha! You should have come to me! :D

[RdEoSg]

greaaat :P

[FrankS]

I'm so dentist-phobic due to childhood bad experiences, I had general anesthesia for a root canal. Didn't hurt a bit.

[telenous]

I feel for you. I had an emergency root canal treatment done to me some three-four years ago. The doctor gave me a very strong topic anaesthesia as a result of which my lower lip went numb for about four months. And that was the pleasant part of the story.

[John Camp]

If the procedure was done to fix a cavity that had broken through to the canals, and had then infected the tooth, there could be some pain from the infection; but root canals themselves shouldn't hurt any more.

I'm sensitive to tooth pain, and I had a root canal thirty years ago that hurt some, had the same one re-done twenty years ago, that didn't hurt much, and finally had it re-done a third time, two or three years ago, and that didn't hurt at all -- and I was told in advance that it wouldn't hurt, and that dental pain now equals incompetency.

The last re-do was done by an endodontist who used really fascinating imaging technology to examine the interior of the tooth, in which he found a fourth untreated canal that had eluded the first two treatments, and was the reason I'd had to have retreatments (the untreated canal was leaking into the gum and causing infections.) Anyway, it shouldn't hurt any more, if you go to a modern, well-trained endodontist.

JC

[sherm]

Chris:

All you need is a prescription for a little Vicodin and you may find that the Root Canal can be an enjoyable experience ;)

Scott

[RdEoSg]

The actual procedure was great. I didn't feel a thing. The doctor was very good. Apparently the infection is clear into my jaw bone though and he said that while the root canal took care of the cause, the actual inflamation and infection will take a few days to clear up. He put me on some other meds and such.. Luckily I was able to swear off the vicodan yesterday and just a few Advil is doing a good job with the pain.. My real problem now is that the infection and swelling is keeping me from opening my mouth enough to eat anything more than soup or noodles... I think tonight will be some sort of rice ;)

EDIT: Yea I may like vicodan, but my tummy doesn't. it makes me sick..

[visiondr]

Chris:

All you need is a prescription for a little Vicodin and you may find that the Root Canal can be an enjoyable experience ;)

Scott

Better yet, Versed. A little of that stuff and you get retrograde amnesia as well as anaesthesia. So, not only do you not have pain, you don't remember the experience!

Ron

[jaapv]

Don't worry. Pain after a rootcanal treatment is not uncommon, but wil usually clear up within 48 hours, 72 max. You'll soon be right as rain:angel:

[jaapv]

I feel for you. I had an emergency root canal treatment done to me some three-four years ago. The doctor gave me a very strong topic anaesthesia as a result of which my lower lip went numb for about four months. And that was the pleasant part of the story.


That is not a good experience. However, the lip went numb for another reason. When we block a nerve by a depot of anesthetic fluid around it, we don't see the tip of the needle, nor can we know exactly where the nerve is. so it is possible to hit the nerve with the needle. That can give a kind of electric shock and often instant anesthesia. I rare cases that may damage the nerve and nerves recover slowly, if at all. That is what happened to you. It can happen with any dentist. Fortunately it is so rare that one is not required to disclose the complication for informed consent. In my office I have not seen it for decades, touch wood.

[erikhaugsby]

Maybe I'm just incredibly lucky (sort of, in a twisted sort of fashion), but I was involved in a pretty bad ski accident a while back in which my four top front teeth all died and needed to have rootcanals inorder to save the actual white outer shell of the tooth.

I had all four done without any anesthetic, and no pain or side-effects ever resulted. I guess that I'm pretty lucky, considering.

[Bill58]

Please DON'T show us any of the pics!!!!

[telenous]

That is not a good experience. However, the lip went numb for another reason. When we block a nerve by a depot of anesthetic fluid around it, we don't see the tip of the needle, nor can we know exactly where the nerve is. so it is possible to hit the nerve with the needle. That can give a kind of electric shock and often instant anesthesia. I rare cases that may damage the nerve and nerves recover slowly, if at all. That is what happened to you. It can happen with any dentist. Fortunately it is so rare that one is not required to disclose the complication for informed consent. In my office I have not seen it for decades, touch wood.

Jaap, yes you are right. I now recall that that's exactly what the dentist said at the time. He even made the point you mention, that there was a chance that my tactile sense around the lip could be lost for ever. I had a very slow and gradual recovery of my sense of feeling on the lip (during which I was mostly annoyed by my inability to use straws for cold drinks).

Despite the great trouble I went through I wasn't in any way dubious about the practice of my dentist. I was just grateful for the fact that he quickly took care of a kind of pain that made any other pain I felt in the past pale in comparison. Toothaches can make one really and trully miserable. It's inconceivable (and yet a fact) that in the past people had to get by without proper dental treatment.

[RdEoSg]

Thanks for the info Jaap. Let me ask you this. I have been dealing with this for about 6 months. I went in for two cavities.. How I got 2 cavities when I see my dentist every 4 months and brush every day I don't know but there you are! So she filled them and at the same time noticed a third and I said go ahead and do it too since I was already numbed and all. She did and afterwards one of them still hurt. She assumed the bite was off and adjusted it. I went in every week or so for several months for another bite adjustment because pressure and cold would give me shooting pain. It would only last a few seconds. She did x-rays and didn't see anything. All the while she said it could need a root canal, though she didn't see any thing when she did the fillings. The damage wasn't that deep I guess.

So eventually she decided she was going to redo the filling incase it didn't take and there was a gap or something causing the pain. She went in and redid it about a month ago, but then the same problems, so she again assumed the bite and kept working on that. Then came the intense pain and swelling and all last thursday while she was on vacation so I thought I had a sinus infection since my ear and neck hurt too. I checked online on some sites and saw that those were also symptoms for needing a root canal so I called my oral hygenist. Thing god I have her home number!!! She gave me the number of the people that do the root canals for them and thats who did this one..

Anyways. As it turns out.. from memory I think she was working on tooth 29, and the root canal was on tooth 30. Is it normal for the pain to be on a different tooth? like the nerves were moving it about or something. I told the guy that did the procedure but he said the xrays looked ok for the other tooth. I am concerned though why my dentist never sent me in for a consultation or something. Was she not looking at the Xray correctly maybe? Since she doesn't do them maybe she doesn't know what to look for.. i admit he showed me the thing and I had no idea what he was talking about. he said i wouldn't that it was very subtle, but he knew what to look for.. I just feel like months and months of this should have sent up a flag to my dentist. looking back now it looks obvious, but with mild symptoms not including hot liquids and such, maybe it was easy for her to over look it?

Now I have to go in for a crown i guess but I'm not sure if i should mention my concerns to her.. Its easy to be angry at the messenger you know, but I don't know if there was anything she really could have done.

[RdEoSg]

I had to say it twice apparently...:bang:

[MelanieC]

One of my dogs has had two root canals and had zero recovery time (other than coming out of anesthesia) each time. Dogs are transparent when it comes to pain, so I think it's a pretty good guess that he was in very little or no pain.

If you think having root canals done on a dog is ridiculous, try doing some research on (a) just how long an upper canine or premolar root is in a dog and (b) what exactly is involved with "pulling" an otherwise healthy, structurally important tooth out of a dog's head.

[jaapv]

Thanks for the info Jaap. Let me ask you this. I have been dealing with this for about 6 months. I went in for two cavities.. How I got 2 cavities when I see my dentist every 4 months and brush every day I don't know but there you are! So she filled them and at the same time noticed a third and I said go ahead and do it too since I was already numbed and all. She did and afterwards one of them still hurt. She assumed the bite was off and adjusted it. I went in every week or so for several months for another bite adjustment because pressure and cold would give me shooting pain. It would only last a few seconds. She did x-rays and didn't see anything. All the while she said it could need a root canal, though she didn't see any thing when she did the fillings. The damage wasn't that deep I guess.

So eventually she decided she was going to redo the filling incase it didn't take and there was a gap or something causing the pain. She went in and redid it about a month ago, but then the same problems, so she again assumed the bite and kept working on that. Then came the intense pain and swelling and all last thursday while she was on vacation so I thought I had a sinus infection since my ear and neck hurt too. I checked online on some sites and saw that those were also symptoms for needing a root canal so I called my oral hygenist. Thing god I have her home number!!! She gave me the number of the people that do the root canals for them and thats who did this one..

Anyways. As it turns out.. from memory I think she was working on tooth 29, and the root canal was on tooth 30. Is it normal for the pain to be on a different tooth? like the nerves were moving it about or something. I told the guy that did the procedure but he said the xrays looked ok for the other tooth. I am concerned though why my dentist never sent me in for a consultation or something. Was she not looking at the Xray correctly maybe? Since she doesn't do them maybe she doesn't know what to look for.. i admit he showed me the thing and I had no idea what he was talking about. he said i wouldn't that it was very subtle, but he knew what to look for.. I just feel like months and months of this should have sent up a flag to my dentist. looking back now it looks obvious, but with mild symptoms not including hot liquids and such, maybe it was easy for her to over look it?

Now I have to go in for a crown i guess but I'm not sure if i should mention my concerns to her.. Its easy to be angry at the messenger you know, but I don't know if there was anything she really could have done.

That are a number of questions, not all of them easy to answer with limited information!
As to the unseen cavities: Well, in theory a dentist using his eyes, x-rays etc should be able to fins virtually all cavities in time. Having said that, it happens to all of us that we see a patient on recall and think to ourselves: "How the **** did I miss that last time!?".
It is a bit like taking a great, carefully considered photograph and on developing finding a tree in the background growing out of your subjects' head. It should not happen, but it does.
As for the pain in a different tooth - yes it can happen. Usually the cause (barring the missed hole described above) is a miniscule stress fracture inside the tooth which cannot be diagnosed in advance. That occurs more often than one would think. To locate the pain in such a case can be extremely difficult for both patient and dentist. I don't think an earlier consultation with the endodontologist would have made much difference. One just needs to be lucky at the right moment to pick it up, especially if the syptoms are mild.
These fractures are also one of the major causes for pain with white fillings. The stuff bonds to the tooth and shrinks on hardening. That can overstress the tooth structure leading to hard to diagnose pain.
And then there is the possibility that the filling is, despite our best efforts, fractionally too high. That can overstress a tooth in another way, again leading to pain. That can cut off the blood supply to the tooth, leading, again, to a dead tooth and a root canal treatment.

So what happened to you cannot be said at a distance. The main thing is that the problem is solved! :)

[RdEoSg]

Thanks Jaap! I'll say one thing. I am glad that all of the treatments have been pain free anyways. It just the inbetween time! I asked the dentist if I could just take a shot home of the numbing stuff but decided that wasn't such a good idea! :p

[thanatos]

Grrrr. I lost a crown on my upper left 5 a month or so ago leaving my falling apart upper left 6 a bit more exposed than usual. Both are non-vital after requiring a couple or three root canal treaments each. Yesterday, my upper left 6 filling cracked and fell out whilst i was sucking a (sugar free) Polo mint.

I'm fed up with the problems I've had with these 2 teeth and am going to ask for extractions of both. Fortunately, the university I'm affiliated with has a dental school so I might let a student loose on me.

[raid]

I was lucky; I did not have any pain at all after a root canal.

Raid

[shutterflower]

And I look like a chipmonk!!!! grrrrrr I am getting really sick of soup as well! Ah well.. I had the procedure yesterday and the pain has dropped a lot. Doc says it will take a few more days for the infection to go away.

Anyone else?

you should post a pic

[MelanieC]

I'm fed up with the problems I've had with these 2 teeth and am going to ask for extractions of both. Fortunately, the university I'm affiliated with has a dental school so I might let a student loose on me.

Yikes -- you realize you'll be there for hours and hours, right?

I went to the Penn dental school once while I was in grad school -- no money and no dental insurance -- and although nothing beyond routine was done, I was there for five hours and left in pain. The student was required to check the depths of all my gum pockets, something that I'd never had done before. It hurt like hell. She even managed to hurt me while taking x-rays (of every single goddamn one of my teeth -- individually) because I have a pretty large mandibular torus (normal variation) and she didn't take account of it while jamming the films into my mouth.

I know they have to learn on someone, but it ain't gonna be me ever again.

[RdEoSg]

yeaaa I'm glad I didn't go to the learning peoples..... sheeeesh

[BudGreen]

I've had only one root canal, but it hurt so bad that at times, I think only my heels and shoulders were actually touching the chair. It was the very definition of pain. The next day, my jaw muscles had seized and I couldn't open my mouth more than a quarter of an inch. It took a Cortisone shot to fix that. Needless to say, I don't see that dentist anymore.

[thanatos]

I have a pretty large mandibular torus...

I bet you say that to all the boys.

[RdEoSg]

:D


Well the pain is getting better! I can finaly eat normal food again.. sorta.. its kind of a shovel in technique but I'll take anything at this point! Hopefully a few more days and the swelling should be all gone as well.

[thanatos]

And chipmunks in Southern California will wonder where their Chipmunk God has gone.

Glad to hear you're better.

[RdEoSg]

Thanx. ;)

I am the chipmonk god? :D:D:D

[BrianShaw]

Well the pain is getting better! I can finaly eat normal food again.. sorta.. its kind of a shovel in technique but I'll take anything at this point! Hopefully a few more days and the swelling should be all gone as well.
Sounds like time for a Double-Double to me!! Glad to hear that you recovering.

[thanatos]

I am the chipmonk god? :D:D:D

Not any more, mate, not any more.

[RdEoSg]

Not any more, mate, not any more.


Damn...... :D


As for the double double.. I'm more of a 3x3 fan with grilled onions and animal fries personaly ;)

[BrianShaw]

As for the double double.. I'm more of a 3x3 fan with grilled onions and animal fries personaly ;)
Aahhhh... I see... you're 27. Enjoy the 3x3's as long as you can, you can't do that forever!

[RdEoSg]

Could this be the culprit behind growing more in the midsection than I can remember in the past? I haven't seen my belt buckle in a year or so now.. :-S