Root canal or extraction tomorrow- numbing hasn't worked and I'm terrified

[Mac119]

Hi all. I have had a filling on tooth 19 (composite, if that matters). It was placed in July, fell out in august and was replaced, and then fell out again this week. I went in the next day to get the filling replaced as it is extremely sensitive to hot or cold (I have to breath with my mouth closed, if I inhale too quickly it hurts, and I haven't eaten other than a cup of soup yesterday). My normal dentist couldn't get my mouth numb despite many injections. She said she would just replace the filling without any additional drilling which wouldn't hurt, but the application of the disinfectant was excruciating and the agony lasted a few minutes so she referred me to another dentist, a prosthodontist. I went today and she said based on my symptoms she thinks it's either a cracked tooth or a hot tooth, requiring either an extraction or a root canal, and referred me to a third place where apparently they can do either. My concern is- if the first dentist couldn't get me numb, what does the endodontist do for a root canal or extraction? I asked about sedation and she said they do not do that because you need an anesthesiologist. But I've always had issues getting numb, and sometimes after 3 rounds it works, but a root canal or extraction sounds unbelievably excruciating and at this point I would rather slowly starve to death at this point rather than be awake for either of this procedures. Is there any hope? Anything they can do differently to actually numb my mouth? She prescribed me .5 lorazepam, but I took .5alprazolam today, and it absolutely did nothing. I was shaking in the chair and she just kept telling me to relax and approach it with a good mindset.

 

[Gordon]

There are more advanced local anaesthetic injection techniques which I'd expect a specialist to be able to perform, but not an average general dentist.