I just learnt a sore tooth of mine is caused by my tooth root never fully closing (due to getting braces and shifting my teeth around). Now at 30 I need a root canal.
I’ve never even had a cavity before. I’m legit terrified. Teeth are the one thing that are much worse than nails on chalkboard for me.
How was your experience been? Any words of advice or words of encouragement? I could use it :(
I’ve had good dentists that have kept me mostly pain free. Hope you have the same. For me, it’s mostly about tolerating the amount of stuff put into my mouth at once, which can be uncomfortable. But it’s not too bad. You’ll be fine I’m sure :)
Root canals used to be a lot worse than they are now, now it’s basically like getting a cavity filled. You just get a shot and don’t feel anything painful afterwards, although the drilling is loud and you can still feel pressure.
Depending on the office they may need to put in a temporary cap and wait for the actual cap to be made off site and mailed in to them, so you may have to wear the temporary for a week or so. It’s not uncommon for the temporary cap to fall out, don’t freak out if it does. You can put it back in or leave it out and just gently brush the hole normally (it won’t be painful).
If you have a strong fear of getting a shot in your mouth, you can ask the dentist to prescribe you anti-anxiety medication to take beforehand, but you’ll need someone to drive you to and from the appointment.
But honestly it should be a huge relief once it’s done, in terms of tooth pain. It will instantly be better once the numbing wears off.
I was told I won’t need a cap as the tooth is my front tooth. One of my big concerns is how my tooth will feel when I bite things since they extract the nerves from the tooth.
I have an implant right next to my front tooth and that was such a traumatic experience for me when I got it as a teen. I’m afraid my tooth will feel like the fake one.
The front tooth is actually the easiest to do a root canal on, so it shouldn’t be bad at all. They won’t be changing your tooth much if you don’t need a cap, just cleaning out the infection and the nerve. So you shouldn’t feel any change in how it sits in your mouth or pressure against other teeth or anything like that.
I’ve had a root canal on a front tooth and the only time I can tell that it’s any different from my other front tooth is if I accidentally bump it with something, it doesn’t hurt the same way as a tooth with a nerve does. It still hurts, just from the gums rather than the tooth if that makes sense.
Don’t feel like you can’t tell your dentist you’ve had bad experiences before and are afraid, it is SUPER common and dealing with it head on is going to be a lot better than being unable to get it done during the appointment due to an anxiety attack. If you don’t feel it’s quite that bad for you then you can still ask for nitrous oxide to help you relax.
That’s honestly a relief for me to read 🥲 Your description makes sense to me and that’s a relief as well haha. My implant tooth feels very weird to me compared to all my other teeth.
I’m lucky to have a very empathetic dentist. I told her I was beyond nervous but she could see it cause my hands were shakey and I kept tearing up haha. Felt kind of embarrassing but I know she’s seen worse.
Don’t feel embarrassed at all, it’s a totally normal fear and like you said she’s definitely seen worse. You got this 💪
Due to poor life choices, I’ve had six.
I had a really good dentist and none of them were a big deal in terms of pain or discomfort. Just boring sitting there for long periods waiting for it to be done. I closed my eyes and meditated into a half doze. Good luck!
I had one done recently due to breaking a filling while eating a Jolly Rancher. The whole thing took maybe 2 hours.
The shot of novocaine to numb my jaw was the only pain, and even that wasn’t bad because the dentist used topical numbing before that. It was no different than getting a cavity filled.
My dentist has a cnc machine (CEREC) in the office to make the crown, so I didn’t need a temporary cap. Waiting for that to be milled was the longest part.
I had a bruise on my gums for a couple days from the shot and the retainer clamp, but it wasn’t even bad enough to stop me from eating.
had ones done with a local only was not that bad just be careful with that you eat as you don’t feel it as much if something is stuck downstairs there like a seed or chip. years later had something stuck didn’t know it and snapped the screw and lost the tooth without ever feeling it. bended up having to have the tooth pulled and getting a implant for way more money.
Even had the tooth pulled with only a local was not that bad my jaw hurt from holding my mouth open than the tooth than the tooth itself
Gosh that sounds horrible. It’s my front tooth and I don’t need a cap apparently. Lucky that the facilities were close by.
mine was a root canal after i had my crown but still its not bad if you find a good dentist its mostly their sound and vibration you feel. Get a dentist that has TV is a plus they give you headphones and you can just zone out. Three episodes of star trek ds9 and I was done.
Good choice on DS9 haha. My imagination is hard to control so I might have to be on something because the sounds, smells, and vibrations all blend together and cause me absolute terror haha
When it comes to those thoughts a wise woman once told me let the bear eat you. Just let the anxiety wash over you and know you will come out the other side.
What does it mean to let anxiety wash over you in this context? Like accept and embrace it and be all “fuck yeah I’m anxious! I’m Awesome Noisy Xtreme Iguana Outstanding Uvula Supercool!!!”?
Kinda it’s kind of like you have this fear and your mind is racing with what if’s. By letting it yourself accept that your anxious and that’s okay lets your limbic system run through the fear hormones. You’ve already generated but doesn’t create more. It takes a little bit of time for that feeling to go away. So try not too go down the spiral of its not working i must be doing it wrong. It’s kinda like giving yourself a hug and the anxiety washes away.
I have a long involved horror story that led up to me needing a root canal that I decided not to post here because it probably isnt nteresting to anybody but me.
For the most part, a root canal is kind of minor. They numb your gums where they’re going to inject a numbing agent, then they inject a numbing agent, worst case they go a little nutso and try to inject a few places in there but the pain is there and gone in 5 seconds. If at any point you feel pain they can do a better job of numbing you. Honestly, any pain caused in the numbing process goes away pretty quickly when they successfully do it.
They poke around, there’s a little drilling, some bad smell maybe heat maybe cold a lot of spitting out little sandy chunks of debris. If the tooth is still in pretty good shape they just pack it back up and you’re good to go.
If you end up needing a crown there’s a good bit more drilling a good bit more spitting a good bit more smoke. But it’s really just the same thing prolonged.
It won’t kill you, it will annoy you and it’s marginally unpleasant, The anxiety of being there in the anxiety of not knowing what’s going on is much worse than the actual procedure. Meditate, chill, roll with it you’ll be fine.
It’s not all that bad. Ever done body work on a car with bondo fill, grinding, drilling, and sanding? It smells, sounds, and vibrates just like that, but in your mouth. The drugs will work, unless you take drugs like weed recreationally. Go ahead and tell the dentist this because you will need more than normal. Follow all the dentist instructions, especially about icing afterwards and taking ibuprofen (not for the pain, but to reduce inflammation), even if you feel okay. The worst part for me was always how sore my jaw was just from holding it open so long. Don’t try to go to work afterwards, it’ll just interfere with your aftercare of ice to the jaw. Besides, you’ll just end up drooling on yourself. It’s not so bad really. You’ll be fine.
Just get the gas! It’s very affordable and very relaxing i did mine without the gas and it still wasn’t too bad
Where I live doesn’t have a lot of specialists so I’ll probably need to rent an Airbnb or something in the next major city to be able to get gas.
Bummer. Good luck!!
I used to get cavities filled without numbing, until I was 22 and needed a root canal. They make you get numbed and I haven’t gone back when getting work done. I don’t think the tooth pain is bad, and if you feel tooth pain, let them know. It should be completely shut down. The most uncomfortable part is really having your mouth kept open if they do it right. The light in your eyes too, but you can close your eyes. Also the vibrations sometimes make my nose hairs tickle. All that should be worse than the pain.
I’ve got an old memory of my baby canines being extracted just with local anesthesia and the tugging and drilling was terror for me.
I can’t imagine cavity fillings WITHOUT anesthesia. You’re a tough customer.
When I was around 8 or so, I was more afraid of the needle than the drill. It does hurt, but all pain is something you can get through. If you’re numbing though, it shouldn’t hurt. Also you may fell numb for over 6 hours afterwards. If they do it right you shouldn’t feel pain after it goes away either.
As long as its done by a qualified professional with proper anesthesia, you should be fine.
Do consult a professional though, every situation is different, and we’re generally not professionals around here.
It really depends on the doctor handling it. If they’re good, it’s nothing to worry about.
I’ve had two. If there’s an infection and the dentist get’s a person on antibiotics several days beforehand, then the procedure has a pretty limited amount of pain. Usually less pain than a typical filling. As others have pointed out, the local anesthetic shots are often the gardest parts which aren’t that bad. Don’t avoid the local anesthetic. If you need more, speak up. Basically, if you can handle a few seconds of being pinched then a root canal is no problem. There are also bad dentists out there.
Had one.
- it’s okay to be apprehensive
- use a reputable clinic - Dr Nick will give you PTSD
- it’s gonna cost a bit. Ensure you have insurance or a healthy bank situation. It’s like us$2k here all-in but we can get it back from taxes.
- it’s a long process and there is weird stuff going on. Listen to the practiced pros and warn them you’re a noob. They’ll understand and ideally warn you which ooky thing is happening next so at least it’s not a surprise.
- sometimes the temporary cap pops out if you have one while waiting for the permanent one. As long as you can bring it in to the office, they’ll glue it back in in 2 minutes. You want them to glue it back in.
After a period of time you will be totally unaware of it as anything other than a tooth. It’s not expected to fall out, split, or receive coded messages.
Breathe.
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I’m relieved to hear it’s not that bad. I guess not knowing what a cavity filling is like is what’s getting to my head. I’ve been so anxious about it all.
Just reiterating what the commenter above said. The nerve is dead (hence the root canal) so the actual tooth itself won’t feel any pain.
In fact, my first root canal was an emergency and they drilled right into my tooth without anesthesia to relieve the pressure. I felt no pain, just relief.
As others have said, it’s the noises and sensations… Like you can feel sensations of “something is pressing down on my jaw”, but it doesn’t hurt.
I think it’s also that it feels invasive to have someone in your mouth. It’s an oddly intimate part of the body. I had to remind myself that, “I’m consenting to this”, and, “this person is skilled and helping me”, so I don’t get scared or feel like something is happening to me.
That’s my main issue. As a kid I had all sorts of painful things done to my mouth without my consent so that’s the toughest part.
That sounds awful, I’m sorry 😔
Yeah, it’s really not too bad. It’s mostly boring. I brought headphones to my last room canal because I don’t like the sound the tools make (there’s some bone conduction going on, so the headphones let me drown that out) and that made the whole experience much nicer for me. I’m particularly sensitive to sounds, so sound has always been the worst part of any dental work for me.
it is pretty boring indeed
I had a dental abscess that ultimately required a root canal to fix. Before I could go into surgery I was in the worst pain of my life. Some people exaggerate when they say they were in the worst pain of their life, so to be clear I’m rating the abscess as causing more pain than when I was hit by a car, fell off a cliff, or had life threatening appendicitis.
I had never had a root canal before, so I was pretty nervous going in. My dentist is pretty cool though, he talked me through the procedure and was very patient with me.
The surgery came in two parts. He did most of the work the first day, and had to do some finishing touches the next. Honestly, the hardest part was just sitting in the chair with my mouth open for an hour. I do remember a period where there was a lot of pressure - not pain, but pressure. That’s when they’re filling in your roots with… whatever it is dentists use.
Part of the procedure involves removing nerve tissue. That made me anxious to hear, because I imagined that was going to hurt, but I didn’t feel a thing. Well, that’s not exactly true, about halfway through the surgery I suddenly had immense relief and couldn’t feel my abscess anymore.
Root canals kind of have a bad reputation because they’re one of the more involved procedures at the dentist. I had heard horror stories and seen it lampooned on sitcoms, but the truth didn’t live up to my fears. Dare I say it, it was almost a pleasant experience.
Good luck with your procedure, you’ve got this!
That’s when they’re filling in your roots with… whatever it is dentists use.
It’s usually gutta percha, a kind of rubbery material.
Whoa. A type of latex rubber. Neat!!!
Gosh that abscess sounds absolutely horrible! I’m sorry you had to experience that but interesting that the removal of the nerve was felt that way.
The removal of the root and therefore no more feeling in the tooth is the part that scares me the most about it all.
Apparently the stuff they fill the root in with is a biocompatible composite mush thing (according to the dentist today).
I appreciate all the detail and well wishes :) Makes my day a little better because I’ve been an anxious wreck haha
Well, if losing feeling in your tooth is the part that has you most anxious, then I’m pleased to report that also seems like no big deal. I had my root canal about five years ago and I often forget that it was done, my mouth feels pretty much the same.
I was a little nervous that it might be pins and needles or numbness in my mouth 24/7, but the truth is that you just… don’t feel it. Either the other nerves in my mouth are picking up the slack, or teeth just don’t have a whole lot of feeling on their own.
Wooo! 🥳 forgetting that it was even done is the best case scenario in my head. The human body is WACK.