Update: Root Canal- Eek!

I had my first root canal about a year ago.  I was dreading it, but as far as pain, it wasn't bad.  I went to work right afterwards, and stayed ahead of the pain with plenty of Ibuprofen before the numbness wore off.  Like someone previously said, the residual pain is more of an ache.  In fact, the pain BEFORE the root canal was worse, because I'd had a fractured tooth with nerve/dentin exposure (or whatever they call it), so I had all this sensitivity and pain throughout my jaw.

By far, the worst part was how long your mouth is clamped open - it's incredibly uncomfortable.  Also (and this maybe just me), the back of my head hurt from having it against the chair in one position for nearly 90 minutes.  I wish I brought a little pillow or something!  One thing that really helped was I brought my husband's MP3 player and wore headphones.  It helped distract me and drown out some of the obnoxious noises of the dental equipment.  I just put it on "random play," and kept my finger on the pause and FF buttons.  The only problem was my husband had several loud, head-banging songs on it, so I had to keep fast-forwarding past those -- they only made things worse!

 My father's mouth is a mess, since he isn't the best at tooth care, and he has had many a root canal.. and bridge... and lets just say he has more teeth that have needed work than he has healthy teeth.  Apparently my father doesn't think it is that painful because he has on several occassions convinced them not to use any novacain because he hates the way it leaves his mouth numb afterwords.  Yep, he sat through them doing all the work with nothing for pain. @__@

  I'm not that brave!

Tomorrow at 11:00am I will be getting my first root canal done

Please send you good vibes my way I'm gonna need 'em!

I've had root canals done before. Some only hurt, in spite of 3 or 4 shots of Novocaine when they hit bottom at the nerve. I had one done last week and it didn't hurt during the procedure. Just some pressure. However, that tooth, which has a buid-up down on it and will be crowned next year, did ache for a few days after. That's what Lortab or Motrin is for. Your's may not hurt after like mine. As I said, they did a build-up and screwed in a post, which is probably what made it ache. A post goes into the bone. But if you're just getting a root canal and no crown, then a few NSAIDs and you'll be fine.

By the time I am done, I will have put enough money in my mouth to buy a car.

BCMixs

 I've never had one.  Last year I was told I needed one and since it was the very back tooth and the cost of an extraction was a fraction of the root canal, I had it pulled.  I also can't have the back portions of my mouth numbed, I have a weird gag reflex and I start vomiting and can't stop.  The dentists love that part!    I do have a crown further forward in my mouth and that wasn't a problem at all, I was good and numb and the dentist was great.  No problemo.  Good luck!

Haha your like me!! I havent been to the dentist since I was 14 and that was to get my braces off,I'm 22 now. Reason I dont go....because of the puking. Im pretty sure my dentist doesnt miss me.

Defiantly wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be!!! Yay!!!

I'm pretty sore now though, but at least it's over and done with.

You'll likely be a little sore from the injections plus the root canal later today and maybe tomorrow. Usually motrin or tylenol helps but take it in advance of the pain and it'll work better. I'm glad it wasn't that bad. Sure is boring though, huh? I hated assisting on them

cakana

Sure is boring though, huh? I hated assisting on them

Very boring. The assistant was so nice though. LOL, she kept talking to me but I had the dentist plus the saliva sucky thing in my mouth, I'm pretty sure there wasn't a point for me trying to talk back to her.

BlackLabbie

she kept talking to me but I had the dentist plus the saliva sucky thing in my mouth, I'm pretty sure there wasn't a point for me trying to talk back to her.

That was one of the downsides of being an assistant too. You couldn't really carry on a conversation with the patient. I was lucky to work with a few chatty dentists though, so we'd have some fun conversations and at least the patient could enjoy listening. I ended up working for a nasty, arrogant pedodontist though and that was enough to turn me off on the whole dental assisting thing.