Scared...Root Canal Tomorrow at 9am

plainjane

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Yea...well...I'm no longer able to even drink room-temp water, let alone eat anything much for the past few weeks.

I finally broke down and reported it to the dentist's office today...Had some drilling and filling done several months ago after a piece of my molar fell out, and they had to fill really close to the nerve/root.

I'm scared...I've been in so much pain lately, and I've never had a root canal done. I've heard about a lot of botched jobs, too. Complete horror stories...though the dentist I'm going to has seen me in the past and my grandmother, who's had him do canals on her and says he's the best. Just hoping it won't be really painful and too long. And hopefully it'll just be the one tooth...and not two or three
 

katachtig

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I had to get one after I had a filling replaced and the tooth was horribly painful to anything but lukewarm temps. I did have a prescription for Valium but there was no pain. And for the first time in the four months after the filling problem, I had no pain after the procedure.

I think you will be fine. Lots of .
 
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plainjane

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Originally Posted by katachtig

I had to get one after I had a filling replaced and the tooth was horribly painful to anything but lukewarm temps. I did have a prescription for Valium but there was no pain. And for the first time in the four months after the filling problem, I had no pain after the procedure.

I think you will be fine. Lots of .
Thank you!
I'm hoping they'll write me something after just in case of pain...I suppose I could always ask for something.
 

trouts mom

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Awwww, hang in there!! Maybe it won't be as bad as you think




This scares me because I have a tooth that hurts like that..I might need a root canal I guess
 

strange_wings

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Get gas if you're nervous. Otherwise you're already in more pain than the root canal will be. You probably won't even need any pain meds after, or if you do a tylenol may suffice.


Get it done, get relief... and get someone else to drive you home!

I had one several months ago and was very worried because I have problems with tachycardia and past bad experiences with locals. Luckily taking my warnings and my cardiologist's, the dentist had no problems with me.
 
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plainjane

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Originally Posted by Trouts mom

Awwww, hang in there!! Maybe it won't be as bad as you think




This scares me because I have a tooth that hurts like that..I might need a root canal I guess
Thanks...hopefully yours is just a cavity or tooth sensitivity!
 
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plainjane

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Originally Posted by strange_wings

Get gas if you're nervous. Otherwise you're already in more pain than the root canal will be. You probably won't even need any pain meds after, or if you do a tylenol may suffice.


Get it done, get relief... and get someone else to drive you home!

I had one several months ago and was very worried because I have problems with tachycardia and past bad experiences with locals. Luckily taking my warnings and my cardiologist's, the dentist had no problems with me.
Gas kinda freaks me out, lol. I'd rather be nervous than do gas, (I'm just a stubborn goofball sometimes,
). Getting it done and over with is the key, for sure....And I didn't think of getting a ride home, but I'll make sure someone else drives me back, thanks.
 

strange_wings

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Have you had gas before? My dentist tried it on me for my root canal and I'm not sure it did anything!
But again, I'm not normal so it may not have. I have no idea how it affects a normal person, I assume some get goofy or may feel relaxed or a bit disconnected?

Getting someone to drive you depends on how you respond to the local. Some people will feel a little off or out of it, and others will feel almost completely normal by the time they walk out the door.
 

darlili

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I've had a root canal, and several caps. Tell the dentist you're nervous - they expect that, and they want to help you through the procedure, since it'll be easier for everyone involved.

Honestly, the root canal wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined...the relief from pain was well worth sitting in the chair for a while. Ask them to explain the after-care (you'll probably get some written instructions) - I got away with advil. If someone can drive you, that's a good thing, just so you can relax. I had mine done under local and drove home myself.

Good luck
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by strange_wings

Have you had gas before? My dentist tried it on me for my root canal and I'm not sure it did anything!
But again, I'm not normal so it may not have. I have no idea how it affects a normal person, I assume some get goofy or may feel relaxed or a bit disconnected?

Getting someone to drive you depends on how you respond to the local. Some people will feel a little off or out of it, and others will feel almost completely normal by the time they walk out the door.
I love the gas and prefer it to freezing. The dentist usually turns the gas off after he is finished everything but packing the filling so by the time he is finished you are right back to normal.

I get relaxed with gas. I say it's like you feel some pain but you don't really care.


Don't overthink the root canal. I've had a couple done and they aren't a big deal, in fact, half of my tooth broke off in the back about a month ago and I have a root canal coming up on April 15th and April 29th - 2 appointments to get it done.
 
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plainjane

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Originally Posted by strange_wings

Have you had gas before? My dentist tried it on me for my root canal and I'm not sure it did anything!
But again, I'm not normal so it may not have. I have no idea how it affects a normal person, I assume some get goofy or may feel relaxed or a bit disconnected?
Nope, never have had it....I know when they do local for stuff like this for me, they have to redo the injection a couple times because I metabolize it so quickly.

I just don't like getting loopy in front of strangers, lol.
 

mbjerkness

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Originally Posted by darlili

I've had a root canal, and several caps. Tell the dentist you're nervous - they expect that, and they want to help you through the procedure, since it'll be easier for everyone involved.

Honestly, the root canal wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined...the relief from pain was well worth sitting in the chair for a while. Ask them to explain the after-care (you'll probably get some written instructions) - I got away with advil. If someone can drive you, that's a good thing, just so you can relax. I had mine done under local and drove home myself.

Good luck
I have had two. I had local freezing . I had no pain. My 18 year old that suffers from sever anxiety disorder has had 4 . She only had local freezing. She also had no problems. I have heard horror stories too. It was no worse than having a filling.
You will be O'K calming
 

grogs

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I had to have a root canal done this Summer and it wasn't bad really. I went in to my regular dentist to have a crown put on and they ground down the old tooth and put on a temporary, but the tooth just started hurting and never let up. My dentist informed me that the tooth must have been rotten under the old filling and that I would need a root canal. It took about 2 months to get in to see the Oral Surgeon for the root canal and it hurt the whole time. Medicine would hold the pain down, but it took a while to kick in, so if I forgot I would be in pain for a couple of hours.

Well, the root canal fixed all of that. I think I took meds maybe 1 day after the root canal, but probably didn't even need that. The procedure itself was quite painless. The oral surgeon was really good - I never even felt the needles when he injected me. The only thing I found mildly unpleasant about the procedure was that there was a bit of scraping to get all of the roots out. I couldn't so much feel it as I could hear the sound being transmitted through my jaw.
 

strange_wings

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Originally Posted by Yosemite

I love the gas and prefer it to freezing. The dentist usually turns the gas off after he is finished everything but packing the filling so by the time he is finished you are right back to normal.

I get relaxed with gas. I say it's like you feel some pain but you don't really care.
I didn't have any of that. I definitely felt the local injections and even some pain from the drilling after that - but as I've mentioned before it's hard for anything to control pain for me.
I was told I should have at least felt a buzzing/tingling from it. Recent research suggests that those with POTS (a type of autonomic nervous system dysfunction) have problems with nitric oxide dysfuntion (NO), no idea if that would affect how N2O would work on a person...

But this should not be a problem for anyone else on here as it's not that common. Don't let fear of being a little off acting prevent anyone from getting adequate pain control.
 

kittybernard

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Oh God, that sounds like you had an indirect pulp cap. Pain is a part of the package with those, but more so with direct pulp caps which I had done around age eleven. We were very poor and had no other option, so it was just something I had to learn to live with.. up until two years ago. I was avoiding any temperature on that tooth for so long that I still catch myself keeping food and drink away from the tooth by reflex. Though you've only had it for a few months, get ready to feel liberated by this root canal!


I was terrified of having a root canal (let alone going to the dentist!), imagining all sorts of pain and horror stories I had heard about over the years.. they were all WRONG! I had eight root canals done in two weeks (followed up by six crowns, among other things). It was so easy and so opposite of my fears that I, quite frankly, adore going to the dentist now.
My body wouldn't/won't respond to nitrous oxide anyway.

From someone who was terrified herself, I'm not going to tell you not to worry.. because you won't.
You'll walk out just like we all do.. "I was worried about THAT?!?"
 

laureen227

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well, i'm unusual in that i don't really mind the dentist. i had a filling about a week ago, & dozed off while he was drilling @ least 3 times. my root canal was similar - really not bad at all. the thing i dislike most about going is having to hold my mouth open for so long - makes my TMJ sore.
sending calming & healing & for you for tomorrow!
 

libby74

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Aw, sweetie, a root canal really isn't all that bad. I've had several and never had any problems afterwards---altho' I've been scared to death each and every time. I've never needed anything stronger than ibuprofen afterwards. The relief you'll get from that painful tooth will make it all worth-while.
Just make sure you go to the bathroom ahead of time
, as these things can take a couple of hours start to finish.
Good luck.
 
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plainjane

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Originally Posted by libby74

Aw, sweetie, a root canal really isn't all that bad. I've had several and never had any problems afterwards---altho' I've been scared to death each and every time. I've never needed anything stronger than ibuprofen afterwards. The relief you'll get from that painful tooth will make it all worth-while.
Just make sure you go to the bathroom ahead of time
, as these things can take a couple of hours start to finish.
Good luck.
Thank you, luckily it was shorter than normal so I didn't have to make a bathroom run till the very end, lol.



I want to thank everyone for the advice, well-wishes, and encouragement.

I ended up staying up till 4am this morning worried about it...I finally fell asleep and got a few hours in.

It was a breeze...The dentist gave me an injection "into the bone" and I felt absolutely nothing. I was happy to see that he listened to me when I said I metabolize pain killers quickly. He also said that the pulp/root was severely infected and had turned completely to mush, so it only took a couple minutes to remove it.

I'm happy to have it taken care of, it's really reassuring to know I can eat normally and not have terrible pain. I go back in in two weeks for the perm. crown, but that's no problem....

Once again, thank you all!
 

strange_wings

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Eww. You're lucky that the infection didn't spread or abscess. As for the injection, it may have felt like it hit bone but thats not the case. When they give the local they block certain nerve branches that feed into that tooth and surrounding it.
 
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