The Root Canal Route (Root Canal Treatment / Endodontic Therapy)

Member Name: lulu2004

Product:	Root Canal Treatment / Endodontic Therapy
Date:	09/01/09 (573 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Got to keep a damaged tooth

Disadvantages: Uncomfortable

I've not been very good recently. I let my dentist appointments lapse, while pregnant I couldn't face letting anyone near my mouth as he morning sickness would have made me gag, and after pregnancy I was just so busy. That meant that it had been 3 years since Id been to the dentist and things got to a horrible stage. I got an intense pain in one tooth in particular. I took paracetemol and eventually I had to admit defeat when I had my Caesarean Section and found that my toothache was hurting more than the Wound from my operation was! When I got out of hospital I had to re-register with a new dentist as I had lost my NHS dentist from having waited so long and after 4 weeks I had my first appointment with my new dentist.

Luckily it was only one tooth that needed work, but I nearly hit the floor when the dentist told me the condition of that particular tooth was very bad indeed and it was going to be a case of getting a Root Canal or having the tooth pulled. The first option was cheap (not cheerful!) and the second option was preferable to me cosmetically but would cost £250. He said he would start to kill the root anyway and cover the hole and give me a few weeks grace to decide as it was a lot of money to spend.

My first reactions was "Pull it out!" why would I pay £250 to keep a dead tooth but as I discussed it with my mum she convinced me that it could have a much larger effect on my appearance than just a gap in my mouth. She had a tooth removed on either side for medical reasons many years ago and she found that it changed the shape of he face, so I saved up and rang the dentist and said we would go down the Root Canal route.

I am not afraid of dentists. I have a huge and very real phobia of having blood drawn, but I'm desensitised to dental work having had fixed and removable braces at different stages of my teenage years so I really don't fuss too much over injections and drills. But still, the very idea of having this procedure did curl my toes a little. I knew what was in store as he had been scraping at the root the last day and it is just a horrid sensation and I knew there would be more of that type of thing.


The Day of the Root Canal
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The Day arrived of the Root Canal arrived and my dentists previous appointment had not arrived so the surgery had rang my mobile just as I had pulled in to the car park and they said I could come in early so I got to the desk and was sent straight up the stairs... no time to sit and dwell on things!

The dentist had me lie down in the chair and he had a quick look, asking how it felt and when I said I hadn't had any pain he said that sounded great as if it had been hurting then there would probably be an infection in there and he would not be able to complete the work. I (stupidly) asked him how he would know if there was an infection and he explained that there would be a blob of a pussy substance in there and it would have to be treated before he would be able to continue. He told me that it did happen regularly when there was a gap between first appointment and second but not having any pain was a good sign.
I had to tilt my head back as he injected me so that everything would go numb and he could start his work. A few minutes later and I couldn't feel where my tongue was. I had an injection at the lower gum and an injection at the upper hinge of my jaw. I never really find that these hurt, it's just a quick nip although I did once have an injection that didn't work but the dentist just gave me more and it worked then. When he was satisfied that I was numb work began.

He began to drill out the temporary cover that he had placed on the tooth at my appointment a few weeks back and I could taste clove in my mouth. When he was finished I asked where the clove taste came from and he told me that the temporary filling had clove in it as a natural antiseptic. Then he washed out the tooth and took an X-Ray of the tooth. Being incredibly nosey I asked if there was a lot of danger in that X-Ray as both the dentist and assistant had left the room for it and he said no, not at all, but with the number of them that he has to do in his lifetime its better to leave where he can.

At one stage I raised my hand (our symbol for STOP!) as there was a sudden and awful taste in my mouth. I asked him if I was bleeding or something as the taste was metallic, but I wasn't and after a quick mouth rinse we continued. It was whatever he was using to clean out the inside of the tooth that was giving me a bad taste. Thankfully it didn't last long. A bracket thing was screwed around the tooth and a silver stick came from this and it helped to hold my mouth open for the work.

I didn't open my eyes too much but I did take a glance at one stage and I knew what was coming- the teeny tiny files to scrape and clean the inside of the tooth. That was the part that I was dreading. Obviously I didn't feel it, but the sound and sensation is chilling. Think nails on a blackboard inside your head and it just going on and on and on. He told me to think nice thoughts and I tried to recall my two children's faces but I was so irritated by the scraping that I couldn't even picture my babies! When he stopped to change files I asked if that was us done but no, we still had MORE! I would have gritted my teeth but my mouth had been held open for the best part of an hour, so I ended up wringing my hands together until the scraping was finally done.

I'm fairly positive as a person and don't take myself too seriously so the mood was light in the room and he laughed every time I hopefully asked "is that it done now?" becoming less understandable as my mouth was swollen. But I have to admit to being very relieved when he finally announced that the scraping was done now and we could fill the tooth and I could get on my way.

The dental assistant made up the filling and the dentist explained that he was filling from the root in three layers, filling, clove filling for antiseptic and a final mercury filling on top. And then, we were done. I got up, went downstairs and paid for the treatment, and spend the rest of the day talking oddly with my swollen mouth and chewing on one side.

I expected a lot of pain last night (this was only done yesterday morning) and I am relieved to say there wasn't any pain at all this morning when I woke up and I have even tentatively chewed on that side today.

Over all, it wasn't the horrific experience that it sounded it would be, but I certainly don't want another one, my lesson is learned and I will be visiting the dentist regularly from now one.

Summary: Given the choice of losing the tooth or filling it