Has anyone here had a root canal?

I went to the dentist yesterday for a cleaning.. but mainly to ask about two broken teeth...

(i ate too much ice when i was pregnant! i should have listened to everyone) OH WELL...

Well.. she wants to give me a root canal on one tooth... but I honestly can't afford it and.. from what my mom says.. it isn't even worth it. The dentist said we could fill it.. and see if that works.

The tooth doesn't bother me now.. and i'm scared if I get it filled that it WILL start to bother me..

anyone here had a root canal that could tell me their experience... :confused:

Yes I had one and I am fine if not better than fine it is like have a full tooth again. I would get one if I were you and could afford to over here it cost me about €300.00 so we get $1.35 for one of our Euros you could check it out and see I got some of the costs infact nearly all the costs back through my tax so check it out.

Ha, funny you should ask. I had a root canal around October 2005. To answer your question, the root canal really wasn't painful (and I am a huge baby when it comes to the dentist). However, around mid-December 2006 I started having pain in that same tooth again. After visiting four different doctor's (dentist, endodontist, and periodontist), it has been decided that the tooth will have to come out and an implant put in. That is being done next week. If you had asked last month I would have said definitely have the root canal done, now I am not as sure. I think I would still say do it, because I think there is still more stability in the tooth (and therefore less chance of later pain) than just having it filled.

Me. I've got an extensive dental history. Unfortunately genetics has handed me very weak teeth. Anyway it sounds like yours is just preventative if you haven't had any damage to the nerve tissue. In other words, if you don't have a toothache from it, then try the filling if you want. If you do, then I'd get the root canal.
It isn't all that painful like people try to say. If I could afford it I'd get a root canal on every tooth. What they do is remove the nerve tissue from the tooth, along with everything elso from the inside, and fill it. You don't need this nerve tissue once your teeth have grown in. It just allows your teeth to feel hot and cold. A real pain if you've got sensitive teeth.

I've had 3 and they were no big deal.

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Originally Posted by IRescue452

Unfortunately genetics has handed me very weak teeth.

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UGH.. ME TOO!! :rolleyes:


Thanks everyone for your responses... I'm going to try the filling first since it is only going to cost me 23.00 whereas the root canal will cost me around 300.00

but i wanted to get other peoples experiences with root canals... to see if the procedure is even worth the money .... if the tooth ends up having to be pulled later anyway.

I have had 3 as well. Only one turned bad that first night. It was my fault though- they tell you to take advil before its done- and I didnt.
Having a root canal is done if the tooth is basically healthy, but the root is not. To seal " a root canal tooth" doesnt make sense to me.. That would seal in the infection. Maybe you need another opinion from another dentist..

I'm the root canal queen. I think every single one of my molars has had root canal. Not something I brag about, but its the truth. I have awful teeth despite brushing and flossing like a good girl.

Root canal these days is an easy procedure... if they do it the modern way with little tiny rubber tubes. Ask which method she uses. If its the rubber tubes, no biggie!

Now if money is a huge issue, like it is for me, ask for a payment plan. Motre than likely your dentist will be able ot set one up. I paid $50 a month for my last root canal.

OR if its an un-seen tooth, you can have her pull it. I also had one tooth that I had pulled when I was in college and had no dental insurance. Nobody knows its missing and every dentist since then has warned me that if I don't get a false tooth put there that my teeth will shift to fill in the spot. 15 years later and nothing moved even a millimeter.

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Originally Posted by borzoimom

To seal " a root canal tooth" doesnt make sense to me.. That would seal in the infection. Maybe you need another opinion from another dentist..

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She told me what she will do is dig all the infection out before she fills it...

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Originally Posted by catnapper

I'm the root canal queen.
OR if its an un-seen tooth, you can have her pull it. I also had one tooth that I had pulled when I was in college and had no dental insurance. Nobody knows its missing and every dentist since then has warned me that if I don't get a false tooth put there that my teeth will shift to fill in the spot. 15 years later and nothing moved even a millimeter.

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I would rather have it pulled than a root canal.. only because.. most of the people i've talked to said the tooth ends up needing to be pulled anyway.. and all that money is down the drian...

TOo '.... i'm already missing the last two molars on the top.. and this is the next one in line.. so i really want to try and keep it... even though you won't see it if it is missing... i just hate to think i will be missing that many teeth..

*see attached* the ones with the X i'm missing (wisdom teeth and two molars) and the one with the red dot.. is the one she wants to root canal...

I've had 2 root canals. I tried the filling route first in one of them and ended up in so much pain that they had no choice but to do a root canal. Since it got so bad I now have 3 dark spots in my jaw under the specific tooth. I've seen a dental surgeon twice to ensure that these dark spots that show up on the xray aren't "doing anything weird". So far nothing. I would definately go to the root canal directly next time, not the filling route after this experience.

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Originally Posted by Sara luvs her Tinky

Well.. she wants to give me a root canal on one tooth... but I honestly can't afford it and.. from what my mom says.. it isn't even worth it. The dentist said we could fill it.. and see if that works.

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Your mom is absolutely right! Assuming you don't want to maintain your natural teeth. ;)

I would ask your dentist for an alternate plan. I had one root canal, and ended up a year later having the tooth pulled, and now have a bridge. So, pulling the tooth could be an option, but, my bridge was 1500 or so.

I don't see how filling it would be a long term solution. But, if he/she says so, it must be possible. Any sort of payment plan, with a significant amount up front?

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Originally Posted by Queen of Poop

I've had 2 root canals. I tried the filling route first in one of them and ended up in so much pain that they had no choice but to do a root canal. So far nothing. I would definately go to the root canal directly next time, not the filling route after this experience.

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that is one of my fears... the tooth doesn't bother me now.. even thought i know it is "bad".. i am afraid after she fills it, it will start hurting!

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Originally Posted by Cataholic

I would ask your dentist for an alternate plan. I had one root canal, and ended up a year later having the tooth pulled, and now have a bridge. So, pulling the tooth could be an option, but, my bridge was 1500 or so.

I don't see how filling it would be a long term solution. But, if he/she says so, it must be possible. Any sort of payment plan, with a significant amount up front?

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They do have payment plans... but i would rather pay for the tooth to be pulled and a bridge or something... than pay for a root canal, pull and bridge or something...

and she didn't guarantee the filling would be a long term solution... but she said we would try it. :confused: I figure if she is at least willing to try.. then there must be some hope for it to work...


*i hate going to the dentist* **whines**

:) Yes I have 2 of them & all is okydoky here.. No bother..

I have my root canal ten years now and its fine the only time a root canal tooth has to be pulled is if air gets in the tooth while the process is being carried out and now with all of the wonderful new inventions dentists have that is 1 in 10,000 chance of happening if at all and more than 99.9% of people who have one done do not get that happening and besides my husband got one recently and the dentist told him that if he has pain that night after all his medication and so on then the tooth has not been packed properly so he will have to have it re-done at no cost or have it pulled but it would be his decision.

The dentist will do a filling if the patient doesn't want a root canal. Often that just ends up in a root canal, as the tooth gets painful. I have had two, one resulting from a broken tooth in a car accident and one from my canals calcifying in on my tooth and causing great pain. Since the root canals, no pain, it's been years now. My husband has had three, same thing, no pain, no problems. So out of 5 together we haven't lost any teeth from it up to now. I would root canal it and try to keep the tooth. Usually pain results after a root canal because the dentist was not thorough when doing it and left a piece in there that later becomes irritated and inflamed. I wouldn't trade my dentist for anyone else though, he's great and VERY thorough, and guarnatees his work. It all depends on what you want to deal with or your partircular problem. I would advise against the filling though, it probably will hurt and be very sensitive after that it done, if it's that deep.

I must have had at least 4 root canals and have never had a subsequent problem with them. I have mine done by an endodondist and it takes two trips to complete the process. The cost for my last one was $895.00 but my insurance paid about two thirds of that.

I have had two root canals. The tooth hurt way more before the root canal than having the root canal done. And I have had no problems with either tooth since, they are still firmly in place in my mouth, and cause not even a bit of trouble.

Root canals are usually done to eliminate an infection in the canal. If the infection is not eradicated, filling won't help.

I've had at least three root canals and I have no more problems with those teeth. I was warned, however, that there are no guarantees that I won't ever need another root canal. Essentially what they do is to clean out the infection, remove as much of the nerve as they can, and seal the hole. The filling keeps anything from getting to the canal and reinfecting (unless the tooth next to it gets infected).

The pain is less than getting the tooth pulled. And you can eat normally in about a week---with no tooth there, your other teeth MAY shift, and you might not be able to chew as well.

Caps and bridges aren't as good as your own teeth. I have a combination of all three. Caps show at the base, bridges are sometimes hard to clean.

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Originally Posted by Karen

I have had two root canals. The tooth hurt way more before the root canal than having the root canal done..

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That is one thing that makes me want to just get the filling... because the tooth doesn't even hurt!?!?!?!?!?


errrrrggg..

I feel so confused now!! Now that i'm hearing positive stories about root canals.. :confused:

i honestly have no idea.. this is a new dentist for me... and i'm not real sure about her or her work... :confused:

My first root canal was because I had lost a filling and ignored it, and man, THAT hurt when the infection hit the nerve.

The other root canal started out as a tooth that needed a filling, but the dentist, when he went to fill the tooth, discovered that the infection was too close to the nerve, so to spare me future pain, he put a temporary filling in, and we scheduled the root canal.

I ´ve had one root canal and one extraction......

the root canal was made to one of my molar which was filled a while ago, the filling came off and I was fine for many many years (I´m talking since a kid) but my molar still had a huge hole now (no pain, no nothing) but then......my kid was born and my molar started bothering me, i went to a dentist and supposedly he cleaned it up and filled it again, and Oh suprise!! two days later I went to another desntist with mayor MAYOR pain......he took the filling off and let my molar drain (the first one just filled it right away) and a few days later he told me I barely had a molar left, so either root canal or extraction and then a prostetic molar (which meant $$$$$) so I went for root canal........

I have a bad histoty with anesthesia (It takes too long to work on me and lasts very little) so you can imagine i had like 10 shots until he couldwork and I had to come about 3 times to get it completely done as he could not give me too much anesthesia in one session.......

now my molar doesn´t bothers me but sometimes I do think maybe an extraction without a fake molar would´ve been more easy, as after that i had a full dental checkup and fixing and after that another molar was bothering me, finally a wisdom teeth!! (haha no wonders) but it was taking too much space so it had to be removed in 10 min I was out and happy with my molar in a bag LOL

sometimes I think I feel something in my root canal but I also think it´s just my imagination as ALL my nerves were taken off (he told me usually a person has 2 I had 3!!) but I just don´t know.......I have such a powerful mind.... :rolleyes:

You guys are making me feel better. I'm only 21 and I've got 3 teeth pulled and tons of fillings. Its genetic for native americans to have poor teeth and I've got native genes from both sides. My mother's family has good teeth though, so I get to hear all sorts of grief from them whenever I go to the dentist for more work. Its not like I asked for bad teeth, and its not like I don't take care of them. Anywho, good dental support group here, lol.

Sara, though I have never had a root canal I worked for a dentist for ten years and my hubby has had several so I am familiar with them. One thing you must always keep in mind with a root canal is that is not the end of the work needed on that teeth. Once the nerve is removed the tooth over time will become brittle. For that reason all root canal teeth need crowns.

My hubby learned this the hard way. He had a root canal done in a front tooth when he was 16 years old. He never had the tooth crowned and when he was in his mid-30's he was eating something and the tooth broke off at the gumline! :eek: :eek: This was two days before an important job interview. Fortunately our dentist was able to fit him in and set him up with a temporary tooth called a flipper. He went on to have an implant in that tooth and is a happy camper although they are VERY expensive as are bridges. *sigh*

Just the words "root canal" makes me scared, lol.

I've had the good fortune to have been blessed with strong teeth. I just had my first cavities filled before Christmas. I was such a wimp. They were really superficial, the dentist said, but just hearing the drill freaked me out. I also had my wisdom teeth taken out 2 days after Christmas, and that was NOT a pleasant experience! I was not sedated, just some laughing gas and some valium, but the sound of cracking teeth was not a pleasant one. I'm sure the dentist wasn't happy that I ended up hyperventilating on the last tooth either. I just lost it, and by that time the novacaine was wearing off, the valium wasn't doing jack, and the laughing gas definitely did not make me laugh. I hadn't been to the dentist in 7years up till that point. I have dental insurance, I just get panic attacks whenever I'm there. This new office even burns candles for me when I have a basic cleaning cause the smell makes me sick to my stomach.

I'd suggest doing what ever it is that will keep you out of the dentist office for the longest amount of time afterward, lol.

Oh, and I just turned 37. So, I should know better about taking good care of my teeth.

I've had one, I think it was at least a year and a 1/2 ago. No big deal. And I'm 22.

I had one root canal. The only problem for me was keeping my mouth open so long because of TMJ. My jaws locked off and on and I started crying. Had no pain from the actual root canal itself that I can remember.

Whether to have root canal, filling or pulled tooth, is a hard call. I guess you have to trust your dentist. I inherited peridontal disease from my dad. He lost all his teeth early due to weak, infected gums. He suffered with his dentures from that point on. (couldn't afford implants). So I had gum surgery a few years back and NO problems since. My point is that after witnessing my dad (and I guess everyone is different) I'd do whatever it takes to keep my own teeth if I possibly can.