Anyone had a root canal?

clp1027

A couple months back I lost a filling. When I went to have it replaced, they found that the filling had been cracked for quite awhile and there was a cavity underneath it. They drilled and refilled it and sent me on my way. Since then the tooth has been really sensitive. When I went in for my 6 month cleaning a couple weeks ago, I told him that the tooth still hurt and he said that if it didn't get better quickly, I would probably need a root canal. Unfortunately, it seems to be getting worse. He also said that if that was the case, he would probably refer me out for sedation dentistry because I don't respond well to Novocaine, Benzocaine and Septocaine and the pain would be too much to deal with.   I'm really scared now. I know people have root canals everyday, but I'd rather give natural birth to quadruplets before I willingly submit to a root canal.

So my question is, how long/how many visits did it take? Did you need a crown? How much did it cost?

MamaNikki

I had one several years ago.  I had an old filling from when I was younger, crack and I didn't know it.  It made my tooth crack too - one of my rear molars.  It took two visits.  On the first visit they did a mold, did the root canal, and put in a temporary crown.  They had to get a crown made, then I came back on the second visit to get the crown put in.

After insurance, I think I paid in the $300 range.

abpdjs

i have had 3 root canals (more than i would like to admit, i think i have soft teeth)

anyway, it took 3 visits.  you go and have the root canal done and they put on a temporary crown.  then you go back about 2 weeks later and have the mold made to fit for the real crown.  then you go back to have the permenant put on, about another week or so.........it sucks if you work full time.  just a pita.

it cost me about 500 i think.  it was 50% coverage of the cost.

do it as soon as you can and don't put it off.  tooth pain is unbelievable when it gets bad.  and i mean BAD!

gl!  i had no problem with novacine but i know many that do.  just doesn't phase me.

littlelamb99

I have had two root canals.  The first one was because my tooth was abcessed (wasn't taking care of my teeth in college--too much Mountain Dew) so that one was pretty painful.  The second one was no big deal.

If you don't respond well to novocaine maybe you can do sedation?  I cannot imagine not having novocaine for the root canal, it is pretty major stuff and the procedure does take about 20+ minutes of drilling since they are cleaning out all of the root chambers.  The visit is usually 2 parts.  The crown portion (fitting it, etc.) doesn't hurt at all--just the drilling is sometimes intense.

Talk to your dentist about possible sedation.  

p1nklemonade

**lurking from another board**

 i've had three root canals since i was 19 (28 now) and they're not that bad.  my dentist does them in two visits, the first is the actual root canal, permanent crown mold, and temp crown.  the second is for the actual crown. i'm pretty sure you always need a crown on a root-canaled tooth, as there is just too much tooth drilled away to support a regular filling.  cost in the range of $1000 for each tooth, but insurance covered most of it. hope that helps.  but really, they're honestly not bad.  you may be very sore after if your tooth was already bothering you, but nothing that tylenol can't handle.