I never had one but I'm afraid I might need one now.  I can't get to my dentist until Monday but the symptoms I'm having seen to indicate one is necessary (did a little internet research).

Anyway, please break the news to me gently.

I think it depends on the dentist really...  Mine wasnt that bad... just sore.

No worse than a cavity.. just more work/takes longer.

Dont know, but arent there drugs that knock you out?

They knocked me out when I was 18 and pulled my wisdom teeth.  It wasnt bad at all.

It's not that it's painful ... just having your mouth wide open for 60-90 minutes with you tooth crimped in metal and a large peice if latex strapped across your face sucks.   I have had several done by several different dentists.  The last one was done by a real endodontist and not a general dentist.  He definitely did the most thorough job of them all taking multiple x-rays throught the procedure to make sure the root canals were entirely empty.  

I had an idiot dentist do one two years ago and it has already failed and now has to be pulled.

Had a half a one on Friday (the bad half). No problem with novacaine and gas.
The reason I only had it half done was that it had tons o crap that needed to drain. I'm going back next friday to get it filled.
Right now I'm on pennicillin and vicodan.

Not bad like the others said................ Plus I even had the pleasure of my dentist (who was a female) rub her 'Bewbees' all over me while she worked.........

Quoted: Not bad like the others said................ Plus I even had the pleasure of my dentist (who was a female) rub her 'Bewbees' all over me while she worked.........

Where is your dentist?

Quoted: Quoted: Not bad like the others said................ Plus I even had the pleasure of my dentist (who was a female) rub her 'Bewbees' all over me while she worked......... Where is your dentist?

Gainesville............

Mine wasn't too bad, except I learned the hard way not to drink pop when taking the pain meds-you feel weird, caffiene and pain pills DO NOT mix.  

Deej

Quoted: Not bad like the others said................ Plus I even had the pleasure of my dentist (who was a female) rub her 'Bewbees' all over me while she worked.........

I had the same pleasures. But she was an Endodontist, not my regular Dentist, so it was only one visit. Here's to more root canals in the future.


I would recommend you see an Endodontist, they specialize in root canals. You won't feel anything past the first injection if you go with an Endodontist. I have had four root canals and that has been my experience.





ETA: Some show and tell.


First he/she will put a rubber dam around the tooth to be treated, this is to prevent any infection from spreading:






Then he/she will drill down the tooth to reach the root, where he/she will start to file down the root:






The red tip with white ring is the file:





Then the canal are filled in with a rubber-like material called "Guttapercha":






It may or may not require a crown, depending on how much of a tooth is left.

I had my first one done earlier this year.  Everyone told me it would hurt.  To tell you the truth, it didn't hurt at all.  I have a co-worker who had one this past week and two days later, he was still in a lot of pain.  

I guess it depends on how much of a puss you are.  

ETA:  One time at work, I went into a burning house to try and save the homeowner.  My partner and I ended up sucking in a lot of smoke.  We had to go to the ER, where the Doc had to draw arterial blood out of our wrists to measure the amount of Carbon Monoxide in our blood.  The Doc and all the nurses warned us that it was going to be painful.  My partner went first and said it really hurt.  Again, it didn't hurt me at all.  I felt a minor needle stick and that was it.  Last tetanus shot I had, I decided to look at the TV as I saw the nurse closing in on my arm.  Next thing I knew, she was walking away.  I asked her if she was coming back to give me the shot and she told me she was already done.  

Maybe I'm just weird like that.  

I wouldn't know, I brush my teeth.

Quoted: It's not that it's painful ... just having your mouth wide open for 60-90 minutes with you tooth crimped in metal and a large peice if latex strapped across your face sucks.   I have had several done by several different dentists.  The last one was done by a real endodontist and not a general dentist.  He definitely did the most thorough job of them all taking multiple x-rays throught the procedure to make sure the root canals were entirely empty.

This would seem to match my experience with three of them.

Quoted: Mine wasn't too bad, except I learned the hard way not to drink pop when taking the pain meds-you feel weird, caffiene and pain pills DO NOT mix.   Deej

A lot of prescription pain meds with codeine have caffiene in them.

Quoted: Quoted: Not bad like the others said................ Plus I even had the pleasure of my dentist (who was a female) rub her 'Bewbees' all over me while she worked......... I had the same pleasures. But she was an Endodontist, not my regular Dentist, so it was only one visit. Here's to more root canals in the future. I would recommend you see an Endodontist, they specialize in root canals. You won't feel anything past the first injection if you go with an Endodontist. I have had four root canals and that has been my experience.

It was fun........

It depends on your pain threshold. If you are sensitive to it, then it can be a biT@h! But if you are not new to "cowboying" up, then the worst part is having to keep your mouth open for a long period of time.

IF you have the right Dentist, they are no sweat at all

Quoted: I wouldn't know, I brush my teeth.

yep, so does my daughter and at the age of 14 she needed one due to an accident where she hit her tooth and killed it.  
She took no pain meds for it after the fact and said it wasn't bad at all during the procedure. She did have an Endodontist do hers also, not the regular dentist.

Quoted: Not bad like the others said................ Plus I even had the pleasure of my dentist (who was a female) rub her 'Bewbees' all over me while she worked.........

When I was at Ft Bragg I went in for a cleaning and got a massage at the same time. It was wonderful, but she mentioned she was married to a Special Forces guy so I was Mr. Politness.

Anyway, about 20 years ago I went in for an "Apico"??? After a few HMMMMs, the dentist said I'd need a root canal. I vaguely remembered my mom saying how painful they are. Vaguely, because they had put an IV in for Demerol. The guy had a textured bamboo wall paper and I was enjoying watching it sway in the breeze. Well after it was over I floated out to the cashier. They told me not to drive, but when they gave me the amount I sobered up immediately and drove the mile or so back home.

Here's the important part. They gave me Demerol tabs and told me they wouldn't be giving out medals for bravery. Told me to take one when I got home and every 4-6 hours thereafter until they were gone whether I needed them or not. If you get ahead of the pain you'll be ok. Just be prepared to be black and blue around your face.

Quoted: Quoted: Mine wasn't too bad, except I learned the hard way not to drink pop when taking the pain meds-you feel weird, caffiene and pain pills DO NOT mix.   Deej A lot of prescription pain meds with codeine have caffiene in them.

Tylenol 3, the most commonly used doesn't.

having the work done isnt that bad.  its when the nerve is in the process of dieing that my friend is very painfull. at least in my experience it was

Tylenol 3 (Codine) is the devil.

They gave me that crap after I had hand surgery, it fucked me up hardcore.  I've never been fine one minute, and 4 hours later been sweating while shivering with a fever of 104.something F, yes... I thought I was going to die.

Quoted: I wouldn't know, I brush my teeth.

I'm not much of a fan of genertic enginering for a superman ideology, but one thing I would like to see if for humans to contanttly grow new teeth, like sharks or elephants.  It would be at a slower rate.  A tooth is replaced once every decade or so.  (I'd also like a built in spell checker )

They will numb you up good for the procedure, the shots might be a pain depending on which tooth is involved, if your dentist is any good you won't feel anything after the shots.  The root canal goes a long way to giving you relief from pain, not more pain.

Root canals are done when a tooth root goes bad, it has nothing to do with how you brush or take care of your teeth.

Quoted: having the work done isnt that bad.  its when the nerve is in the process of dieing that my friend is very painfull. at least in my experience it was

That's why I had my root canal, and I didn't think it was bad at all.  Though, I was so freaked out they had to keep giving me novacaine over and over and over because it didn't work.  They had to stop and have me come back another day because I was so freaked out the novacaine wouldn't take affect and they gave me all they felt comfortable pumping in me.  It was weird as hell.  When I came back a couple days later, it wasn't bad at all.  Though, he gave me some super-shot that left my jaw aching for a week or more.  But the whole process isn't bad at all.  I had to have a crown too, which ment I had to come back a third time once the thing was made and shipped to the dentist.

I had the greatest dentist ever.  When we moved from NE Ohio, I got a new dentist and went to him the first time this week.  I think I'm going to make appointments and go there when I'm visiting friends in Ohio.  I've had at least a half dozen dentists and that guy was the best.

This bad






I had 2 at the same time

Quoted: Tylenol 3 (Codine) is the devil. They gave me that crap after I had hand surgery, it fucked me up hardcore.  I've never been fine one minute, and 4 hours later been sweating while shivering with a fever of 104.something F, yes... I thought I was going to die.

Interesting you say this. I was on Vicodin/Hydrocodone/Tyenol3+/loratab. Specifically the loratab/Watsons and they are 5mg hydrocodone and 500mg tylenol. I was told 1-2 tabs every 4-6 hours and that would come to 4-5 doses a day depending on when I got up and went to bed. Got exactly the same reaction, I also realized I was taking btw 1000 and 1100mg of Tylenol! Not good on the liver.

Did some rx research on the internet and came up with Vicoprofin 7.5mg Hydrocodone and 200mg Ibuprofin (and I do well on Ibuprofin) and you can take 800mg Ibuprofin/day. And no more temps or sweats and i feel a whole hell of a lot better. Good thing cause im on a recovery thats going to take the better part of a year with 2 additional surgerys yeehaa!

ETA: Ive only been on 4 weeks and dont anticipate more than another 6-8 weeks. a 4''x3"x3/4" depth open wound is not pleasant I got a Wound VAC I have to tote 24/7
where big sponges are cut to fit down into the chasm then plastic sheet veiled and a suction tube to flatten it all out and draw drainage. Supposed to cut healing time by half. Ill see.

Forgot to mention, a week out of the hospital  I got those fevers, also had an abscessed tooth and a root canal by an Endodontist. No pain, took a while, exactly like the pictures posted above. Perscribed? Vicodin/Loratab  Lol.

I've had 1 root canal....

It was really bad.

I had two root canals done a few weeks apart.  The guy I went to was known as the root canal God of Kansas City.  It was an assembly line process, with a big room divided only with ceiling-mounted sliding curtains.  

The guy was doing, I don't know, something like four root canals at the same time.  He gave the first person a prelim injection, then the second and so on, and then came back to #1 for the full injection, then #2...

It was less painful than most dental work I've had done.  I was NUMB.  N-U-M-B.  My eyeball went numb and lolled around.  My scalp was numb.  It was amazing.  That guy was just not kidding around with the novacaine, he must buy it by the ton.

Since the actual root canal work involves removing the majority of the uncovered portion of the tooth, it was quick.  Then the internal treatments that kill the root, then cleaning and packing and temporary crowning.  

My advice is to find someone like this guy.  Don't dink around with a regular dentist who does a handful of root canals a year, go to someone who does a half dozen before lunch.

Jim

I had to have an emergency root canal last year. I thought the tooth I was having a problem with was a wisdom tooth, and I was laid off and broke. It got really infected and I waited and waited to go in and have my "wisdom tooth" pulled. When I got there they told me that my wisdom teeth never came it, and that it was a molar. Then they told me for $1100 they could save it. Not wanting to only be able to chew on one side of my mouth, I ponied up.

I'm normally not the wimpy type, so your mileage may vary a little: The anesthetic was injected into my jaw and burned a little. Prior to doing this they used a bananna flavored topical anethetic to numb my gum up. My tooth was really infected, almost to the point that it couldn't be saved. When he started drilling to China, he got deep enough that the anesthetic wasn't working and had to give me more with the needle. Still wasn't quite enough.  He put a temporary but durable filling in the tooth and then told me that I would need a crown on it.

For pain killers, he prescribed 800mg motrin.... so I just took 4 200mg of the garden variety pills per his direction. They didn't do a lot for me, and the pain wasn't that bad (especially compared to how it was before the root canal) so I didn't bother with it after the first day.

The thing that kills me is that the cause for the root canal was my wisdom teeth are growing sideways into my other teeth and he says they will have to come out. Then tells me that when that happens all my other teeth will fall like dominos without their support. If that's true, then why the fuck do I need an $800 crown on an empty tooth that I already invested $1100 in?

Dave

I just had one, ugh. yay for percoset