Im scared of the dentist and he is telling me to get a root canal
Recovered historical discussion from Im scared of the dentist and he is telling me to get a root canal.
So I seemed to have cracked my tooth which ended up with a very painful infection. Luckily I had a bottle of antiboitics laying around and taking them the infection went away. The tooth is sort of back to normal now but it has a crack in it. I went to the dentist today and he said that I either need to get a root canal to see if I can save the tooth OR I could just have it removed.
It seems that if they do the root canal it may not work because the tooth is already cracked and I may need to get it extracted anyway. I am 44 years old. it is the first molar ( #19 ). I am getting mixed advise if I should to save it or not. What do you think? Anybody have any experience with dental issues? I am a huge chicken ... so I know this is playing into my procrastinated decision.
Regards,
Tom
Archived source: https://web.archive.org/web/20140329091025/http://www.spacetimeandtheuniverse.com/off-topic/6096-im-scared-dentist-he-telling-me-get-root-canal.html
Replies
Hamiltonian
Teeth are useful and worth keeping. If you don't agree with that, then the decision is made. Get the tooth removed.
But what's the big deal with root canal? People get hysterical about it, like its having your leg amputated without anesthesia. It doesn't hurt. It takes awhile. There are more interesting ways to spend your time. No big deal.
I've had three root canals over the years. One got me thirty more years out of a trashed tooth, the other two teeth are still in my head.
The other consideration is who is giving you the mixed advice? If its dentist versus some guy in a bar, go with the dentist. If its two dentists, go with the one who doesn't work in a shopping mall.
Monty 76
Tom, I have had exactly the same experience. I would advise you to have the tooth removed. It can't give you any more trouble in the future then.
I have had neuralgia in my face, which has returned about every 3 months for the last 2 years. When it first started, it felt like bad (really bad) toothache, so I went to the dentist. He could find nothing wrong with my teeth. I was still suffering, so went to the doctor. He thought it might be neuralgia, and only offered me pain killers as the treatments for this are not worth the side effects they can produce.
After the last bout of neuralgia, part of the filling in one of my back teeth fell out and later part of the tooth broke off - without any pain. So, I visited the dentist and he, like yours offered me extraction or root canal treatment, as the tooth had split and there were signs of infection in the split. I opted for extraction, which was not painful, except for the initial injections (which don't last long). Modern anaesthetics and follow-up pain killers are very good.
Since having the tooth out on 12 December, I have not had a recurrence of the neuralgia. I am hoping that the tooth was the cause of it. It is very difficult to diagnose the cause of neuralgia.