Should Nerve Removal Prior to Root Canal be Excrutiatingly Painful?

[cat.]

Hi, I have just arrived home from the dentist after having experienced the worst pain I have felt in my life. I had a really painful lower tooth (3rd from the back on the right) which was infected, so I went for the preliminary clean up to clean the nerve, prior to the root canal which is scheduled for next week.

I was given local anesthetic in either side of gum below the tooth, but when they put the water into my mouth I told them I could still feel it. When they started drilling I was still in discomfort so I raised my hand for them to stop. They gave me some more anesthetic, but I was still in discomfort.

What they did was injected more anesthetic as they drilled, but the pain was still there. Then, I imagine they hit the nerve... and it absolutely killed me. I was crying and shaking... the dentist told me it was too inflamed to continue, put the filling in, and told me to return next week.

Now I've googled to see if this should happen and I can't get a clear answer. According to most things I've read it should not be that painful an experience. I've rang the dental helpline and can't get through, so hopefully somebody here will be able to provide me with some answers.

I don't want a diagnosis, but I do want to know: should that kind of agonising pain happen? Should the anesthetic not stop that? Is there some reason it would not work?

Really appreciate your help. Thanks.

 

[Tink]

I'm not a dentist (hopefully one will be along soon enough!) but to answer your questions briefly:

No, it's not supposed to hurt at all, and yes, the local anaesthetic is supposed to take away the pain entirely - you should only feel vibration from the drill, no pain.

It seems clear that in your case the anaesthetic didn't work. There can be lots of different reasons for this - I've had trouble with LA failure in the past myself - but the good news is that there are ways around it and more things they can try. A skilled dentist should be able to get your tooth completely numb for the treatment, and you do not have to endure this without it.

edited to add: note that if the tooth was infected, one possibility is a "hot nerve" which can cause the anaesthetic to fail. Treating the infection with antibiotics and allowing time for the inflammation to calm down (sounds like this is what your dentist is doing) can help with this and you may well find that next time the anaesthetic works just fine.

 

[Susanne]

Could be a "hot" nerve as Tink suggested. That is what my former dentist called it when I had a root canal done. He got me really numbed up, but when he started working on shaping and cleaning the canal(s), there were a couple of times I felt a really sharp pain. He had to give me a couple more shots/squirts of numbing medicine to fix that. It went fine after that, though.l

 

[Hunter]

Hi, I have just arrived home from the dentist after having experienced the worst pain I have felt in my life. I had a really painful lower tooth (3rd from the back on the right) which was infected, so I went for the preliminary clean up to clean the nerve, prior to the root canal which is scheduled for next week.

I was given local anesthetic in either side of gum below the tooth, but when they put the water into my mouth I told them I could still feel it. When they started drilling I was still in discomfort so I raised my hand for them to stop. They gave me some more anesthetic, but I was still in discomfort.

What they did was injected more anesthetic as they drilled, but the pain was still there. Then, I imagine they hit the nerve... and it absolutely killed me. I was crying and shaking... the dentist told me it was too inflamed to continue, put the filling in, and told me to return next week.

Now I've googled to see if this should happen and I can't get a clear answer. According to most things I've read it should not be that painful an experience. I've rang the dental helpline and can't get through, so hopefully somebody here will be able to provide me with some answers.

I don't want a diagnosis, but I do want to know: should that kind of agonising pain happen? Should the anesthetic not stop that? Is there some reason it would not work?

Really appreciate your help. Thanks.

Hey there, hope you are well. I had this happen ten years ago and did not return to the dentist. I have lost the tooth and am only now looking to fork out for an implant. I don't want to scare you, but the best thing you can do is go back and ask your dentist to either have another go, or explore alternative anesthetics/sedation. It is honestly worth going back. Any good dentist will want to solve the problem. I just wish this forum existed when I had the same issue, because I have a fear of the dentist, so didn't do anything about it. I may also have to have the tooth in front extracted too, because my dentist had drilled that one right down in order to reach the cavity, which was between the two teeth. so, please pluck up the courage if you can.