Can't Sleep After Learning I Need A Root Canal

[TerrorVision]

Hello,

I'm just writing a bit of a rant, I'm confused and totally overwhelmed at the moment.


I take good care of my teeth, brushing, water pick, mouth wash.


A little over a year ago I got s filling. At the time I didn't think it was great, when I bit down to get the upper and lower teeth flush, because of the numbing injection I didn't have full power over my mouth and it seemed a bit loose.


A week ago a tiny piece of tooth just popped off. No major trauma, it just popped. I went to a dentist today, apparently because the original filling wasn't great, a lot of decay has spread and I now need a root canal.


I am totally confused, overwhelmed and I don't know if I can do it.


The cost is one thing. I have looked at private and NHS. NHS is affordable but I would feel really self conscious going through the rest of my life with a silver molar, looking like some sort of pirate.


Private seems to look nicer, but the cost is insane. I am freelance and have been working all year. Just when I thought things were finally going well and I was getting ready for a holiday, this comes up.


More than that. I don't want to lose my tooth. I can't explain it but it just feels wrong, like that nerve is part of me and I don't want to have it ripped away.


I honestly feel nauseous, Today while working all I could think about was my tooth and now I can't sleep. I have no idea what to do.

 

[FearfulInMA]

Hello! First, in so sorry that you are going through this.

I wanted to tell you a couple of things based on my experience. I'm in the US, so don't know about UK costs, but here's what I can tell you. I've had 4 root canals (RCTs) and they have all been pain free and all have worked as intended. I was terrified before my first one and was certain I couldn't go through with it. Once I did, though, I was very happy with the result.

In terms of metal vs. tooth colored - what you are seeing is the crown done after the RCT and not the RCT itself. I don't know how things are done in the UK, but I wonder if you can save some money by having the RCT done on NHS and then the crown done private. Or, I wonder if you can pay more on NHS to have a tooth-colored vs. metal crown. Someone from the UK will hopefully be able to clarify. If it's not a back tooth, you may or may not even need a crown.

In terms of having the nerves 'taken out'. I suspect that, if a RCT is being suggested, it's because those nerves are currently dead or dying. If you don't remove the dead/dying nerves you will get infections and that can cause a whole host of other problems.

With my 4 RCT'd teeth, they don't feel any different in my mouth than any of the other teeth.

I hope that some of this is helpful. Please feel free to ask other questions of you have them.

Best of luck to you!

 

[carole]

Hi I agree 100% with FearfulInMA. I am in the UK. I have had crowns and bridges done on the NHS and they are fine. If the tooth needs a crown then it will be done on the nhs. I have one gold crown and one silver crown both at the back at opposite sides of my mouth. They don't show much and have been no bother.
If it is a tooth at the front of the mouth that is more visible they will do a porcelain crown which is silver with tooth coloured porcelain over the front of it. They colour match it to your own teeth colour. Mine feel just like my own teeth do which they are under the crowns.

I was terrified of having a rct but it isn't bad. They will make sure you are numb and they can test the area to make sure if you aren't sure. Once you are numb they will attach a dental dam which fits onto a frame over your mouth, this is to isolate the tooth to aid the success of the rct. You can still breath and swallow as normal and if needed the dam can be removed in a second. It is made of rubber and they punch a hole in it to match the tooth position.
There is very little drilling then they do the rest of the cleaning and shaping of the canals by hand with tiny little files. They take an x ray to make sure that they have gone far enough and they will either temp fill the tooth and have you go back for a second appointment which will be the same as the first. If they do it in one visit they will put a permanent filling it. They usually wait 6 months to put a crown on to make sure that things are okay and stay settled.

I had no pain at all when I had my rct's done. Try not to worry too much the worst thing about a rct is that it is boring. It is very calm and quiet, I would rather have a rct any day than a filling.

You would have time to save to go private for the crown in that six months if you wished.

 

[TerrorVision]

I just want to say thank you both for ecerything you wrote. It really helped me last night.

i called around and found a NHS dentist nearby, who can do it for a much lower price and they only do white crowns. So that cleared up two of my main fears.

The dentist will check the tooth again and give me a second opinion. I hope now that the decay has been removed and (temporarily) filled in, that will give the nerve a chance to heal (apparently it was red and angry looking). I have no idea if that is how teeth work or not.

I am still slightly worried about the tooth, it just feels weird to lose a nerve which has been with me for years, to lose part of my nervous system. I never knew how metaphorically attached I was to it before this happened.

 

[carole]

Good that you have found a dentist that you can go to see. Don't worry about losing the nerve in the tooth, the tooth will feel the same. It is better to lose the nerve than the tooth.

Good luck let us know how you get on please

 

[TerrorVision]

Just wondering if anyone can advise me on this.

My appointment is this Friday, however my temporary filling seems to be coming loose. What should I do? Should I visit an emergency dentist? Ignore it because Friday is pretty soon? Buy some filling material from a pharmacy and patch it up myself?

 

[FearfulInMA]

Who put in the temporary? If I were you, I'd contact that dentist to see if s/he can fix it ASAP. If you're worried and you don't want to do that, you can always contact the dentist you are seeing on Friday to see what they suggest.

 

[TerrorVision]

The problem is, I'm working away from home at the moment so both dentists are too far away.

 

[FearfulInMA]

Then maybe just a phone call to the dentist you are seeing on Friday to advise you about how urgent it is to get fixed?

 

[TerrorVision]

Well everything ended up going really well.

I contacted the dentist who did the original filling, who said not to worry until Friday. Also a coworker brought his dentist in (long story) so I was able to ask him also.

On Friday I met the dentist, who could see no reason for performing a root canal. At one point he was putting in the new composite filling, I felt pain in my tooth, which he considered to be a good sign (although not in a sadistic way I hope) that indicated the nerve is still alive.

Long term the prognosis isn't great. It is a deep filling, which might damage the nerve, also at this point 30% of the tooth is gone and artificial. However for now all is well.