Question for Dentists/Tooth experts... (1 Viewer)

Mamba

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Last month, a filling came out (the first molar right after the bicuspids on the bottom left-side of my mouth). So I just got back from my dentist appointment and he tells me I'll need a....root canal. He prescribed some meds for any pain, but the tooth isn't bothering me at all. Other than the noticable gap where the filling used to be, it feels just like any other tooth. My question is: what happens if a person elects to not go through with it and just leave the tooth as is? I have a feeling the answer isn't what I'm hoping for, but needless to say, I'm not excited about forking over $500 for a root canal. I will if I have to, but if I don't have to, I won't. I have a friend of mine that went through the same situation a while back and he still hasn't gotten a root canal and his tooth feels fine. Let me hear your opinions/experiences.
 
get the tooth repaired. You only have a limited number of teeth. Take care of them and don't be so cheap. You would repair your car wouldn't you?
 
You could always get it pulled.

I went through a similar situation and I elected to put off the root canal. That turned out to be a mistake. I spent a day and a half in pain not even Pericoit (sp?) could fully block. Get it done before it starts hurting.
 
Eventually root canals need to be crowed as well. I'm putting off a crown at this point hoping the tooth doesn't crack. You probably won't need much of the pain medication, so you might want to save that for a rainy day.

TPS
 
get the tooth repaired. You only have a limited number of teeth. Take care of them and don't be so cheap. You would repair your car wouldn't you?

Haha...You sound like a Peta member. :)
 
It all depends. A root canal is done because bacteria has gotten into the root of the tooth. That doesn't mean that you have infection/abcess now (that's why no pain), but you will, 100%, have it in the future if you don't clean it out now.

You may have been able to put off the root canal if you had the tooth refilled right away. Or maybe not. It may have come loose because of new decay underneath that filling before it came loose.
 
An abscess will deliver a kind of pain that you simply can't imagine. Truly. I've had four of them and if I'd had a Derringer for the last one, I would have cheerfully blown my own jaw off, it hurt that much.

You could go for a second opinion, of course. It may be possible that a pulpotomy and new filling will do you fine. If not, get the root canal and crown ASAP.
 
Last month, a filling came out (the first molar right after the bicuspids on the bottom left-side of my mouth). So I just got back from my dentist appointment and he tells me I'll need a....root canal. He prescribed some meds for any pain, but the tooth isn't bothering me at all. Other than the noticable gap where the filling used to be, it feels just like any other tooth. My question is: what happens if a person elects to not go through with it and just leave the tooth as is? I have a feeling the answer isn't what I'm hoping for, but needless to say, I'm not excited about forking over $500 for a root canal. I will if I have to, but if I don't have to, I won't. I have a friend of mine that went through the same situation a while back and he still hasn't gotten a root canal and his tooth feels fine. Let me hear your opinions/experiences.



Honestly...whether you get the root canal now or later....you will eventually HAVE to get one or have the tooth removed.

If for some reason you don't believe you need a root canal, then have another dentist look at it.

However, if you truly do need a root canal, then go ahead with the procedure. If you wait too long you will eventually get an infection and they do HURT. I have had a couple root canals and one had no pain while the other had an absess. It is not fun!!

Trust me, it isn't worth waiting on something that you're going to end up getting anyway. Needing a root canal isn't going to go away unless you get the procedure done.

and just an FYI, it's very important that you have a thorough dentist who will get ALL of the cavity out of a tooth before putting a filling in place...
because if any cavity is still left while a filling is put in....the cavity will spread straight to the root of the tooth which will lead to the need of a root canal making that filling procedure worthless.

Listen to the folks on this thread. We're talking from experience! :hihi:
 
and just an FYI, it's very important that you have a thorough dentist who will get ALL of the cavity out of a tooth before putting a filling in place...

Sometimes it's not even an issue of being thorough. Sometimes it's how the canals go on the inside. I had a root canal done about 6 years ago. Then about 2 years ago, I had to have a specialist redo that root canal because there was a "rogue" canal (one that couldn't be seen initially) that got infected again.

But then this year, I started having pain in that tooth again, and I went in, and it turned out that the infection in the very end of the canal that wasn't able to be cleaned out had spread to my gum, and I had to have oral surgery to open up the gum to remove the infection. Yay! :cussing:
 
I have had several root canals. Yes, they're expensive plus there is another $400 - $500 for the crown. My dentist told me the only root canals that hurt is when the it because it was infected.
 
Get the root canal, get it over and be done with it. Worst pain I ever felt was because I held off on having one done.
 
CT, 77, Kanona and I aren't just whistling Dixie.

Until I got the T.N. that abscess was the worst pain I had ever felt. So far above whacking my 'nads on a wooden fence you couldn't even find it on a pain chart.

If you want an approximation of the experience, sharpen the tines of a fork, hook it up to a car battery and jam it into your jaw all the way to the bone. Then have someone wiggle it in time with your heartbeat. Leave it that way for a couple days, with no letup and then add another, poking this one in from the inside.

After 48 hours or so, you're allowed to start taking pain pills and gradually pulling out the forks, to simulate the effect of the antibiotics you'll have to take before the dentist will touch your tooth. For added realism, make sure the specific type of pill makes you really, really nauseous. After another 3-4 days you can finish removing the forks, but keep taking the barf-inducing pain pills. Continue on the pain meds for another week before ending the experiment.

At some point during Day Three, have someone ask you if you'd pay $500.00 for this whole thing never to have happened. Record your response and play it back in your car as you drive to your root canal appointment.
 
Until I got the T.N. that abscess was the worst pain I had ever felt. So far above whacking my 'nads on a wooden fence you couldn't even find it on a pain chart.

If you want an approximation of the experience, sharpen the tines of a fork, hook it up to a car battery and jam it into your jaw all the way to the bone. Then have someone wiggle it in time with your heartbeat. Leave it that way for a couple days, with no letup and then add another, poking this one in from the inside.


Thanks for reminding me of the heatbeat thing. :hihi:

I tell ya what else, and I know you can identify with this one T.

The first few days after my root canal, I was in heaven from the release from the pain(that, and a healthy dose of codeine enhanced goodness via prescription) However, because Dr Mengele decided to jam my jaw about 50 times with a needle full of novacain, I had calcium crystal buildup in my jaw muscles, over the next 3-4 days, It got so bad I couldnt open my mouth no more then 1/16 of an inch. It lasted for about 3-4 weeks. Pure hell. I recall once trying to eat a roast beef sandwich. tool me over an hour to do, I had to take field mouse sized bites.

It was then I truly knew frustration. :hihi:
 
Calcium crystal buildup, you say? Hmm.

Did it hurt all the time, or just when you tried to open past a certain point?

'Cause I am right there at the moment. The usual TN stuff, but I can't get my teeth wider than maybe 3/4 of an inch without it hurting like a mofo. With Thanksgiving coming up, I am getting a little antsy about it.
 

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