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Anyone have a root canal done?

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I read somewhere that you used to get dental work done at a blacksmith. I guess they would heat up iron pokers to the point they were white hot, and then just put it up against your tooth. KABLOOEY! Then they'd just pick up the pieces of tooth from inside your mouth...

Have no idea where I heard/read/learned that from....
 
You might be thinking of barbers. Barbers not only cut your hair, they also did medicine and surgery. Most likely including dental surgery.
 
If you need a root canal, get it done sooner rather than later. By the time you are at the step of needing a root canal, either your tooth pulp/dentin is exposed or you have some sort of problem deep within the tooth that is only going to worsen, get painfully infected etc... etc... etc...

Make sure you tell the dentist if/when it hurts. You will get more shots of novocaine and the pain will go away. The worst part of a root canal is the 1-2 hours of your jaw open with tools in your mouth...rather uncomfortable and you may need a day or two before the muscle soreness goes away.

I have had 2 root canals done and I was surprised at how little pain they are. You will need drugs for pain and inflammation after but My pain was gone after the second day. Nothing advil/tylenol and percoset/vicodin cant take of.

The endodontist recommendation is very sage advice.

If you need a crown, go for a gold one, especially if on the back teeth in a place not very visible when you smile. Dont do gold on the front teeth unless you want to look like a gypsy. Gold crowns are more friendly on the opposing teeth and wont wear them down like porcelain ones plus gold lasts longer and shapes itself better to your bite resulting in a more comfortable crown. I've had 2 molars gold crowned and no mis-alignment when I bite, very comfortable.
 
NetWareHead said:
I have had 2 root canals done and I was surprised at how little pain they are. You will need drugs for pain and inflammation after but My pain was gone after the second day. Nothing advil/tylenol and percoset/vicodin cant take of.

The endodontist recommendation is very sage advice.

If you need a crown, go for a gold one, especially if on the back teeth in a place not very visible when you smile. Dont do gold on the front teeth unless you want to look like a gypsy. Gold crowns are more friendly on the opposing teeth and wont wear them down like porcelain ones plus gold lasts longer and shapes itself better to your bite resulting in a more comfortable crown. I've had 2 molars gold crowned and no mis-alignment when I bite, very comfortable.
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The price of root canal + post from endodontist for a molar is expected to run around $1150, then, the crown costs $2500.

A implant costs around $3100.

Seems a root canal doesn't guarantee long term success, and it will eventually need to be extracted and get a implant.

So, what is the point of going with a root canal + post & crown these days, if the costs are basically the same initially, with the root canal ending up costing $3100 more in X years down the line?
 
I have a root canal + crown from 2001 and a couple of other more recent ones (5-10 years old) that are all OK. So anecdotally it's not just a short-term fix.
 
Elixer said:
The price of root canal + post from endodontist for a molar is expected to run around $1150, then, the crown costs $2500.
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Had a crown last year. Should have been $1100 but my new dentist just got her CNC machine so I was the trainee for her peeps....$850.

As far as the gold crown, I asked and she said it was being phased out and not really taught anymore. :\ I wanted a gold crown.

Aside, she's quite awesome. Has never caused me any pain. Maybe the injection drugs are better.
 
DaveSimmons said:
I have a root canal + crown from 2001 and a couple of other more recent ones (5-10 years old) that are all OK. So anecdotally it's not just a short-term fix.
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She was told by two different dentists that most crowns last 5-15 years, and since she is a grinder, most likely it wouldn't last over 7 years.

highland145 said:
Had a crown last year. Should have been $1100 but my new dentist just got her CNC machine so I was the trainee for her peeps....$850.

As far as the gold crown, I asked and she said it was being phased out and not really taught anymore. :\ I wanted a gold crown.

Aside, she's quite awesome. Has never caused me any pain. Maybe the injection drugs are better.
Click to expand...

I wonder why the huge difference between a $1100 one and a $2500 one? I assume the one you got is porcelain? Also funny that they also said there wasn't a gold crown option either.

Seems to me that they want people to get implants now...and are pricing crowns out of the market.

I was half jokingly said, a 3D printer should be used to make crowns or implants... they just need to be able to "print" porcelain.
 
I had two root canals done in the last 2 years, and one crown. The other tooth is getting crowned in August. One root canal was done by an endodontic surgeon, the other by my dentist, who has all of the latest technology (except a CNC machine).

Total cost per tooth for root canal and crown was around $1000. In South Africa of course.
 
highland145 said:
As far as the gold crown, I asked and she said it was being phased out and not really taught anymore. :\ I wanted a gold crown.
Click to expand...

Thats bullshit. I have had 2 gold crowns put in the last two years with possibly another one coming soon. Of course its your choice, but I would have gone to a different dentist.
 
Elixer said:
The price of root canal + post from endodontist for a molar is expected to run around $1150, then, the crown costs $2500.

A implant costs around $3100.

Seems a root canal doesn't guarantee long term success, and it will eventually need to be extracted and get a implant.

So, what is the point of going with a root canal + post & crown these days, if the costs are basically the same initially, with the root canal ending up costing $3100 more in X years down the line?
Click to expand...

I was quoted for a tooth implant as an option instead of root canal + crown. I found the cost to be far higher than a normal root canal + crown. An implant can only be placed by an endodontist as this is now oral surgery. Implants need a post to be drilled into your jawbone to anchor the tooth. A root canal simply cleans out the dental pulp of an existing tooth and can be done by a dentist.

If your tooth is naturally present and anchored well, why would you want an implant? My philosophy is to avoid unnecessary surgery and save the natural body part if possible rather than insert something artificial. The procedure to screw an anchoring post in the bone then needs time to heal before a false tooth (implant crown) can be affixed to the anchor. This means you will need to live with a space(s) in your teeth waiting for the post to integrate into your jaw bone before final placement. At least with a root canal + crown, you are fitted witha temp crown so you can go back to normal life and then come back in 2 weeks for final crown fitting.

The implant I considered also has the same lifespan as a crown and both are guaranteed for 10 years at least, although both can last a lifetime with proper care.

I suppose (although not sure) you could crown an implant with a gold crown although I suspect this is less common. For the reasons I stated before, I prefer gold crowns especially on molars for the sake of preserving the opposing natural tooth.
 
I feel like the noises are worse than any physical sensations during the procedure.

if I were to require another one, I think I'd ask my dentist if I could wear headphones and blast some music.
 
Meh, if its not a vital tooth (wisdom) just yank that bitch out. Hell, I had 3 wisdom teeth pulled as it was thousands cheaper than root canal. Remember, the cost of the crowns is usually separate from the surgery. Dentistry is on the top of my lists as the biggest medical ripoffs.
 
Elixer said:
I wonder why the huge difference between a $1100 one and a $2500 one? I assume the one you got is porcelain? Also funny that they also said there wasn't a gold crown option either.

Seems to me that they want people to get implants now...and are pricing crowns out of the market.
Click to expand...
Yep, porcelain. Asked if I should just get an implant and she said no. Don't remember the reason.

Pretty sure they saved the 3d image so if I break this one, they can just print another fairly easily.
NetWareHead said:
Thats bullshit. I have had 2 gold crowns put in the last two years with possibly another one coming soon. Of course its your choice, but I would have gone to a different dentist.
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BS or no, she wasn't going to give me one. And I wasn't/not going to someone else.
 
i've had 2 root canals, the first was a complete screw up and the dentist left a burr from the tool and part of the root. two years later and an oral surgeon had to pull that tooth and replace it with a bridge.

the second root canal went swimmingly.

bad dentists suck.
 
Evidently experiences differ extremely. Yes, some people report horrible experiences but in my case it was nothing of the sort. The oral surgeon gave me some tylenol for after but I didn't need it, pain wasn't an issue. The procedure itself was somewhat longer than most cavity work by my regular dentist, but nothing extreme. His office was across the street from my dentist. He told me that among his clients was the chancellor of the local university. He wasn't the cheapest. If and when I need another I'd probably go back to him. My problem was a cracked tooth that had dental work already. The crack(s) had allowed bacterial infection to reach the nerve. There was some question to begin with which tooth was the problem. I couldn't say, but he determined which it was, he had his methods of determining that. I wasn't in tremendous pain, but it wasn't comfortable, so I had it done. This had to be around 10 years ago.
alien42 said:
i've had 2 root canals, the first was a complete screw up and the dentist left a burr from the tool and part of the root. two years later and an oral surgeon had to pull that tooth and replace it with a bridge.

the second root canal went swimmingly.

bad dentists suck.
Click to expand...
This is no joke. I experienced some residual numbness (it was pretty slight but it wasn't going away) after a dental procedure by my usual dentist around a year ago. I called him a few days later and he was quite concerned. He talked to an oral surgeon that had an office in the same building and he called me back and told me he thought I should take a prescription steroid (pills) to facilitate healing the problem, and I did. The numbness went away after a few weeks. The particular procedure that he did was problematic, it was difficult to get good anesthesia and problems like the one I had can happen, not necessarily because he made any mistake.

I did some online research about lingering nerve issues after dental procedures and discovered that a lot of people have terrible aftermaths that last indefinitely, lingering, absolutely chronic pain problems that they find it extremely difficult to live with. Some of these problems never go away! Do a Google search on Lingual Nerve Injury and you should find some sobering horror stories. For instance here: http://lingualnerveinjury.blogspot.com/. I wouldn't go to just any dentist.
 
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Corporate Thug said:
I'm no stranger to dental work but I was told yesterday that I need to get my first root canal done. I haven't been to sleep all night at the thought. My dentist assured me that its a pretty painless process but I've been reading some horror stories online.

So what am I in store for?
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No, but it's on the horizon. Don't really care. I've never understood people's fear of dentists actually. Local anesthetic and you're good to go. Worst case the tooth ends up going to shit in the future and you get an implant and never worry about it again.
 
Blanky said:
No, but it's on the horizon. Don't really care. I've never understood people's fear of dentists actually. Local anesthetic and you're good to go. Worst case the tooth ends up going to shit in the future and you get an implant and never worry about it again.
Click to expand...

I had a fear of being in the dentist chair and watching the dentist point barbaric sharp tools at me and in my mouth. It was an irrational fear and its not like I was strapped into the chair or something like that. I could not explain it at all, it just gave me the willies to imagine a cavity being drilled out or even to accept a injection of anesthesia in the gum.

This combined with my lax attitude towards flossing resulted in an enormous cavity in a molar that threatened to collapse the tooth and spread to the tooth next to it (cavity was inbetween teeth, precisely type of cavity flossing could have prevented). This is the tooth where I was quoted either a root canal + crown or dental implant.

Eventually I just had to go and see someone about it, I carried that cavity in my mouth for 5+ years and it got bigger and bigger. My sensitivity to cold/hot foods increased and it got to the point where I could no longer eat on that side of my mouth. My fiance did not want to kiss me anymore because I developed a case of persistent bad breath from my rotting tooth. I'd gargle listerine and 10 minutes later it returned.

After the resulting root canal and crown, I sat in the dentist chair feeling like a fool. All of the fear, procrastination, eating with one side of my mouth and offending probably countless people with horrible breath was completely avoidable. The procedure was almost painless and the relief was immense. One good thing is I developed a good dental care habit/system. I floss 2-3 times a day now. Plus I have a cool looking gold crowned molar 😛
 
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