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Upper left molar extraction and pain in root canal tooth number 31. Terrified :(

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nervouskitten

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Feb 28, 2013
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Upper left molar extraction and pain in root canal tooth number 31. Terrified :(

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here.

Ok... from the beginning: I finally went to the dentist after being to terrified to go for over ten years. My last appointment over 10 years ago was for a root canal in my lower right tooth (number 31).

I was forced to go in the end as my upper left molar (2nd from back) had developed a hole / chip and was starting to hurt. I am now booked in for a tooth extraction and I am completely petrified. Have any of you had this? I have been advised that I will be ok to just have it extracted and no further treatment will be required. Do you think this will affect the surrounding teeth in the future? I'm also worried it will hurt to have out :( I've also heard some horror stories about these extractions going wrong and people being in pain for years afterwards, with sinus problems etc

My 2nd problem is that the root canal tooth on the lower right (tooth 31) is now really starting to hurt. Is it complicated to have a root canal tooth extracted? Will I miss this tooth? I'm quite worried that if I have this extracted the procedure will be horrible and a missing tooth in this area will cause problems.

I know this post may seem a little silly but I am really terrified and feel sick thinking about it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks :)
 
Re: Upper left molar extraction and pain in root canal tooth number 31. Terrified :(

I'll leave it to others to chime in with their experiences. To answer your technical questions...

It won't affect the surrounding teeth having had this one removed.
It really shouldn't hurt to have it removed.
It's not complicated to extract a tooth that's had a root canal started or finished for that matter.
 
Re: Upper left molar extraction and pain in root canal tooth number 31. Terrified :(

Hi nervouskitten,

I've only had one tooth out (#15, the second molar top left), but it was super fast and painless-- I was really surprised how easy it was. You might want to read this thread in Support about a recent member who was also terrified of an extraction, and just reported back, "I didn't feel anything, I would recommend it to anyone."

Contrary to popular imagery, extractions don't involve pliers, or the dentist pulling or tugging at all. The reason any of your teeth stay in your mouth is that they're being held in place by the ligaments of the gums. I'm not a doctor but I picture the gums holding onto the tooth with lots of little microscopic arms. During the extraction, your dentist actually pushes--not pulls-- the tooth slowly from side to side. This causes the gums to release their hold on the tooth with minimal trauma, and then the tooth basically falls out on its own.

You can expect the dentist to get you good and numb so you don't feel any pain. Then, he's use a series of tools to push on the tooth from side to side. I have no idea what these tools look like, because I look away, but the pushing is pretty hard. If you put your palm on your forehead and push as hard as you can, that's about how hard the pushing is-- you kind of have to push back a bit to keep your head from moving. But, it doesn't hurt, at all.

In my case the dentist pushed probably about five times, lasting maybe ten seconds each time. The whole thing, after I got numb, took maybe 5 minutes, tops. After that she said, "And it's out!" and I didn't believe her because I didn't feel anything coming out at all.

Recovery is a bit of a hassle since you have to avoid solid foods for a day or too and not smoke or drink through a straw, but it's usually pretty much painless too-- take Ibuprofin or whatever pain killer is prescribed *before* the anesthetic wears off, and you'll be fine.

Don't listen to the horror stories-- there's always some rare cases where things to wrong, in every field. But the overwhelming majority describe extraction as very easy, fast, and painless.

Good luck, you'll go great!
 
Thanks so much for this, feel much better about the extraction :) Unfortunately I'm waiting to try and make an emergeny appointment as I've been up all night in ridiculous amounts of pain with the old root canal tooth. Pain killers are just not touching it. Just hope they can help me! :cry:
 
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