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Root Canal Assessment Questions

  • Thread starter sfchristiangirl
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sfchristiangirl

Junior member
Joined
Mar 4, 2020
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3
Location
USA
Hi all.

I have a question.

I have an appointment scheduled for this Friday, 03/06/2020 at 9:00 am with an Endodontist. I'm scheduled for a consultation and Root Canal treatment in the same appointment.

What types of questions will the Endodontist ask me? What questions about the tooth pain and history should I be prepared to answer? What should I expect to happen during the assessment/consultation.

I'm extremely nervous about the appointment. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Eliza
 
Hi SfChristiangirl

Welcome to DFC!!:welcome: Congrats on making it this far to get to a consult with an endodontist!
I know I was especially nervous at my endo consults not knowing what to expect either and always nervous going to someone I don't know. Neither time they really asked me too many questions, maybe get a feeling how long this has been going on and where it hurts etc and do some looking and testing to see what they need to do. They just need to get an idea to see how they can help you. Basically the consult is where you can meet them and decide if YOU feel comfortable with them and their services and office too, if you don't you can always choose to have another consult elsewhere .. though they usually charge.. but you are spending decent money at endo so you want to go somewhere you feel comfortable.

I hope it goes well for you!
 
Hi there,

I don't think you need to know a history of the tooth, it will be more about the x-rays, how the tooth looks like and how it feels like now and what can be done. The visit shouldn't be that much different to a "normal dentist" looking at a tooth. Is there anything particular that worries you about the visit?

All the best wishes
 
I had a consultation with an endodontist a few years ago. We chatted about the symptoms I had been having, and why my dentist had referred me to him. He then asked if he could look at my teeth, and take x-rays. My dentist had offered to do the treatment, but was concerned the tooth had long, twisted roots, so I asked about that - he was like “pffft, no problem!” He told me that the treatment had no guarantee of success, but that he was X% confident (I think it was about 80%) the tooth could be saved, and that he would not agree to treat me if he wasn’t confident he would be able to do a good job.

We agreed a treatment plan, and I booked an appointment. I told him I was very scared of needles, and he said he would be gentle!

The consultation lasted about 30 minutes, and cost £50. My partner came with me for moral support, but he actually stayed in the waiting room (which was very fancy with a Nespresso machine!).

I felt immediately comfortable with him, partly because I trusted my own dentist to refer to to someone she rated. If I hadn’t, then I might have tried to find someone else, although in all honesty I was sick of the tooth and wanted a solution.
 
For starters most do very well with root canals and if you have one you likely will not have an issue with it.

He will do a hot and cold test, percussion test, bite stick test all of these will tell him if your nerve is dying and also it could help diagnose a cracked tooth. Sometimes you can have reversible pulpitis. With this the tooth can recover on it's own and the nerves can heal. But sometimes it turns into irreversible pulpitis where the nerve is ultimately dying. Blood flow has been cut off due to chronic nerve inflammation. In this situation a root canal is inevitable.

If your sensitive to hot this is a bad thing. Cold can still be reversible. If it's cracked and not too bad a root canal might save the tooth.

A good Endo will send you home if he is not getting a clear cut answer. If he wants to rush into it and he is not 100% sure I would tell him you want to wait. You can always get in if the tooth gets painful.

Don't do a root canal if you don't need one. There were times teeth hurt me and reversed themselves. Right now I am having a very bad reaction to two root canals. Even though done right they are painful. This is rare 95% of people have no issues.
 
Hello everyone.

Thank you all for your replies and support. I'm sorry I didn't reply sooner.

I had a lot of anxiety leading up to the appointment. I met with the doctor and after a consultation with thorough testing he decided that it did need a root canal treatment and that the tooth had Irreversible Pulpitis.

I had the root canal treatment done in the same appointment with Nitrous Oxide. Everything went well with the treatment. Some minimal pain and discomfort afterwards, but nothing compared to the severe toothache before.

It's been 2 days now since the appointment and I feel mostly healed. Still a bit of pain in the gums, I think from the anesthetic injections. I needed 6 anesthetic injections because the medicine tends to wear off quickly for me.

Thank you all for your support.

Eliza
 
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