Root Canal Terror....Help!

I was recently told I will be needing a root canal on an upper tooth, since the cavity is "close to the nerve". It's that or lose the tooth, and I just went through some trauma getting another molar extracted....oral surgery in fact. The clinic I go to is a corporate chain, mainly due to insurance restrictions, and their "chairside manner" is not good; I asked for information about root canals but they didn't even have brochures, so here I am scared to death and struggle badly with dental phobia/anxiety. I asked about how long the procedure would take, and a dentist said about 30 minutes, an office worker said more like 90 minutes. It also doesn't help that I require Valium and sometimes extra locals to help me, so any advice is welcome! Thanks, Judy

Sorry to hear about this place you have to go to. In all honesty if they don't treat you well I'd just go to a dentist I could trust and pay up front, that's what I have to do but I'd rather have to pay a lot than be treated poorly.

If that really isn't an option I'd see if you can get laughing gas to help you throughout the procedure and depending on the severity of the decay it may take only one visit. 90 minutes seems more likely to me, but I'm not exactly sure.

Thanks for your advice........this corporate clinic is slowly coming to realize that if I'm sedated with Valium right away (always at MY request though) that we have a much higher chance of a decent visit. This place was not able to do what I thought and hoped would be a simple extraction, but it got complicated and I ended up going to an oral surgeon, at a cost of over $600.00. And the gas option is available for $90.00, but I only have had it once, during another OS extraction. Is there the possibility of a different type of pain with root canals? When I asked this clinic for a brochure about them, all they gave me was their price list! jburry/Judy

$90 seems pretty steep for laughing gas, the dentist I go it's between 35 and 40.

What do you mean by a different kind of pain with a root canal?

Well you're not alone, I have a root canal for tomorrow and I have been told I possibly need 2. Ive had one before and the hardest part is mentally getting past everything the pain was non existent to very mild, no more pain then the tooth ache itself and for a short period of like 10 seconds. That was also my back molar on the top. Just relax the best that you can and try to have you dentist talk to you every once in a while I found that helped a lot. Good luck and I hope your procedure will be short and painless

Best Regards

Matt

Agree with the above. I was petrified about mine, but in the end it was the same as most other procedures I've had but just took longer. In terms of anxiety, that is actually not a bad thing as you can only physically panic for a certain amount of time and once I'd got past that it was quite a good way to prove to myself that there was nothing to be scared of. You'll basically come out knowing you can get through anything else, and I don't mean that in an alarmist way - it's just that it involves quite a few different 'stages', none of which are that bad at all and once you realise that then you won't worry about future treatment.

That was what I found, at least, and mine didn't even go 100% smoothly!

I recently had the first part of a root canal done and am about to go back for the rest. I had an abscess but the dentist went ahead anyway - and honestly felt nothing whatsoever. I was very surprised. It was nothing to worry about, honestly and I'm not even that scared about going back, next week.

Do not worry about the root canal, it is actually not that bad. ( I can't believe I am actually saying this!) It also depends on the dentist. They started on my root canal last october and I just had my permanent crown put in yesterday. ( Needed to save up money for the crown). The first dentist that did my RCT was horrible and has no regards to a patient's feelings. He didn't complete the procedure and left me hanging, upset and in pain. But the pain was mostly due to my abcessed tooth and his horrible skills at giving shots. I went to an endodontist to finish up the job and he was really good. I did not feel any pain at all well of course the halcyon helped too. The procedure is simply time consuming and I would say the 90 minutes time frame seems more realistic. After that you'd have to go back again to get the post build up, they take a molding of your crown, put in the temps and schedule you in for your permanents. It will take 2 to 3 visits. I never went back to my old dentist and actually found a new dentist that was simply amazing. Seeing a lot of lil children going to him puts me a lil at ease and they usually leave with a smile on their face.