May have to get an emergency root canal today

Last night i had the most excruciating tooth ache ever I didn't sleep the entire night and was just doubled over in pain. I have never had a tooth ache like that before.

So this morning i called in sick to work and made a call to my dentist. He got me in as emergency to look at my tooth. It's a bottom right molar towards the back. My normal dentist took x-rays and did a camera picture of it but said that the cavity in it was not what was causing the pain and that it was likely some cracks i had on the tooth that had affected the nerve (i had a few cavities that i needed to get filled in the next few weeks that i knew about from my previous visit.)

So my dentist made me an appointment this afternoon with a specialist for an emergency root canal if the other dentist thinks i need it after the exam. Wish me luck, i'm totally freaked out- i was NOT expecting to have to deal with this right now, not to mention,they're pricy too so that's not good eithor.

Any of you had a root canal before? Do they hurt? How long does it take before you feel relief?

Nikki i've had two and i had no problems, because a couple of people i spoke to had bad experiences and i was terrified With mine though i wasn't in any pain when they had to be done.

Lots of healing coming over

Didn't you mention having tachycardia in another thread (about being sensitive to caffeine) ?
Don't forget to mention this to the dentists! You might have to have them use a local without epinephrine.

It set mine off horribly in the past and the local itself did it another time, now that I have the tach pretty much every time I'm in an upright posture I too afraid to go to the dentist.

Good luck later, I hope the root canal helps relieve your pain.

They're actually not as bad as you're imagining them. Believe me, I'm no fan of the dentist's chair, but I got through it just fine. The pain will be gone once they finish because they are taking the nerve out. The only pain I had was at the novocaine site, and my jaw from having my mouth open for so long.

I also have some issues when they use epinephrine, but I was told that because of the invasiveness of the procedure that they had no choice. Epinephrine is used to control bleeding. When I get the shot, I lay flat for awhile until the tachycardic/lightheaded feeling passes. But definitely tell the dentist that you sometimes have issues.

Awwww Nikki, I have never had one, but the thought of them freak me out too. Many vibes for a safe and painless procedure if you have to get it done

for you, and !!!

Originally Posted by StarryEyedTiGeR

Any of you had a root canal before? Do they hurt? How long does it take before you feel relief?

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I've had a root canal on one of the front teeth up top. I had damaged it when I was about 10 years old or so and over the years the tooth darkened to a grey colour.

I didn't have any freezing for it when it was being worked on, and it didn't hurt at all. There was absolutely no pain involved. When they were working on it, I felt the odd slight zing... much less than the sensation you get when you stick your tongue on a 9 volt battery to test if it's still good. But absolutely no pain.

I was getting a crown after the root canal, so he put in some kind of packing and then a temporary filling. I had to go back a few days later for it to be finished. However, the filling ended up falling out before then and I had to go back and have it put back in again. The next visit after that he ground my own tooth down and put on the crown. I've since had the crown replaced.

Originally Posted by clixpix

I also have some issues when they use epinephrine, but I was told that because of the invasiveness of the procedure that they had no choice. Epinephrine is used to control bleeding. When I get the shot, I lay flat for awhile until the tachycardic/lightheaded feeling passes.

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Actually epi is used to hold the local in place, so to speak. As a vasoconstrictor it keeps the local from being adsorbed into the tissues too quickly -Same reason why it's used in epidural injections. They can do root canals without epi (using carbocaine or something similar), but they'll have to do a few more injections around midway through. (There are people that absolutely cannot have any epi - such at those that have what I have, but with heart rates into the 200s)
There shouldn't be any bleeding with root canals or fillings, if there is the dentist slipped...

Good luck!

I'm sorry, but if the pain is that bad, you probably do need the root canal.

I had a terrible toothache that no over the counter pain killer would touch, ended up with a root canal the next day. I was in pain right up to the point when the endodontist numbed me.

I was freaked out but, honestly the worst part was having my mouth open all that time (sore jaw). I had all the pain from a crack in the enamel that let the nerve get irritated (sounds like what you've got). The tooth had actually been filled previously and didn't really hurt until the day or so before the root canal.

I had a root canal last year. It wasn't so bad but they had to keep my mouth propped open the entire time (over 3 hours) and my jaw hurt really bad after. The tooth immediately felt better.

They are very expensive though. I had to pay for it myself which was about $800.

Good luck. I had root canal a couple of year ago, it does take time mine was done over a couple of visits, but the pain was gone instantly, the tooth has gone a grey colour, which is pretty normal the dentist told me, but at least I still have the tooth. There is a lot of drilling depending on how many roots they have to find in the tooth, but it is not painful.

At this point for me, I kind of feel like "rood canal, shmoot canal, whatever" I've had several done, and for me like so many of our other posters, it wasn't nearly as bad as what I'd expected. As a matter of fact, I broke off a crown at the gumline Thursday and had to have the root pulled, crown the two teeth on either side to make a three tooth bridge there, and truthfully, I've had a heck of a lot more pain from that than any of the half dozen root canals I've had done......go figure!!

Hmm, my dentist recommends simply pulling vs root canal if it is one of the backmost molars.
That's actually what I had done a couple weeks ago.

Good luck, sending many no pain vibes your way.


Going in to get drilled and filled myself

I had a tooth die on my and an emergency root canal the following day.
I was in so much pain I didnt mind it a bit! I was like "I'll do whatever you say if you only make the pain stop!"

I also receive valium before all my dentist appts...I havent minded them so much since my dentist has been writing that script.

OP: I found it not to be such a big deal and wondered why I was so afraid of them in the first place.

Oh I am so sorry . I had one two weeks ago (my third one). Yes, I will not lie that they do hurt but since they basically take the nerves in that area you do get relief from it. Usually for me it hurts more for them to numb it then when they do it. Also for healing it hurts for me for the first two days but is helped with pain killers. Then it is fine. Praying it goes well for you.

Glad it went well

Any types of fillings, extractions, crowns etc I've always had done at my dentists office. I've never been referred to an Endodontist. So far as I know only those that require some kind of gum surgery are sent to them here.

Do you ever wake up with your mouth feeling a little dry? Or possibly sleep with your mouth open at night? I have occasional bouts of dry mouth at night and it's been enough to start causing some damage rather quickly... I may have a secondary tie in/cause in my other health problems since so many others with it have reported teeth issues. Maybe your's could tie in somewhere too? That or check your meds for that side effect.

Well, i quickly figured out that i have 0 food in my house suitable for soft meals/etc so i had to make a quick run to the grocery store. That was amusing I wound up with tons of baby food and spaghetti o's lol.

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

Glad it went well

Any types of fillings, extractions, crowns etc I've always had done at my dentists office. I've never been referred to an Endodontist. So far as I know only those that require some kind of gum surgery are sent to them here.

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My family dentist said that since mine was a hard case to crack (he couldn't figure out what was causing me soo much pain on that tooth when it was only a small cavity and tinsy cracks- it shouldn't have been that bad) so he refered me to a specialist. I really liked the endodonist he refered me to- that is all he does all day long is root canals- so it didn't take him long to figure out the source of my pain and to do a very gentle root canal. I liked him because he listened to my concerns (about pain/etc) and was really gentle- so i definitely appreciated that! As far as getting it filled and a crown though- i'll go back to my family dentist for that and he'll take good care of me.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Do you ever wake up with your mouth feeling a little dry? Or possibly sleep with your mouth open at night? I have occasional bouts of dry mouth at night and it's been enough to start causing some damage rather quickly...

I may have a secondary tie in/cause in my other health problems since so many others with it have reported teeth issues. Maybe your's could tie in somewhere too? That or check your meds for that side effect.

Click to expand...

I constantly have dry mouth. It's been a problem for quite some time and my dentist knows about it- he suggested i try the Biotene mouth wash- but if it's possible that garbage made mine soo worse and was just nasty. One possible problem he suggested was that i sleep with a night guard in each night- he said that the saliva build up around it can cause more rapid decay vs. not wearing one. Aside from that one area in my mouth though, the rest usually gets pretty dry. As far as the biotene mouth rinse goes though, I couldn't bring myself to use it anymore I wonder if the dry mouth stuff is causing more decay When i told my dentist about my experience with the biotene he told me to use the Oral B stop (flouride) treatment every night after i brush instead so thats what i'd been doing to try and reduce the decay but i dunno, it doesn't seem like it really helped since i wound up getting a root canal I don't know though, i'm not a dentist so i could certainly be wrong. That is a good point though! I'll ask my dentist about it when i go in for my crown. (as far as my meds go- none of them have the dry mouth side effect, thankfully!)