Root Canal vs Extraction

Slattery86

I'm stuck in a rut right now, I am attending a dentist at the moment, and my choices for a severly decayed tooth are to get it either extracted or to recieve root canal and crown treatment.

I'm thinking of going with the former as the latter is above €1,000 and from reading up on different sources the RCT hasn't always had good results for many people- some even having to extract the tooth anyways in the years after the treatment. Plus from what i've heard its a painful ordeal, and to be honest i'm not very good dentist chair material.

So am I right in going with extraction, the rest of my teeth are in place and i'm beginning to take good care of them, so one moler gone at the back might just be a sacrifice i'll have to make.

Has anybody ever recieved the RCT treatment out of curiosity? Thanks for the advice.

drunkmonkey

Slattery86 wrote: »

from what i've heard its a painful ordeal, and to be honest i'm not very good dentist chair material.

It's the worst pain ever. There's no drug on the planet that will stop the pain. You will cry, you will headbutt the wall to take away the pain from your mouth, you will rub whiskey and cloves in your gum, you will need some time of work, you will wish you pulled out the tooth.

Slattery86

drunkmonkey wrote: »

It's the worst pain ever. There's no drug on the planet that will stop the pain. You will cry, you will headbutt the wall to take away the pain from your mouth, you will rub whiskey and cloves in your gum, you will need some time of work, you will wish you pulled out the tooth.

Thanks for the poetry Peig Sayers, but i'm really looking for dental advice.

davo10

Ignore that s**t above, root treatment should not be at all painful if tooth is numb. Many people associate the pain they were in before/at time treatment was done with root treatment. The hardest part tends to be keeping your mouth open for so long, bring an ipod with you to pass the time.

The decision to keep/remove tooth is a personal one but as Fitz will tell you, many of the people who have implants regret the fact that they had their teeth removed in the first place. The loss of a molar can have implications for the teeth either side, above/below it so if it is viable, try to hang on to it. Remember it is less expensive to have an rct and crown than it is to have a bridge/implant.

lizzie09

he hardest part tends to be keeping your mouth open for so long, bring an ipod with you to pass the time.



I have stated here before that I have had two root canals done in March and
April. It was completely painless.

The last one was completed just before Easter and the Endo gave
me presc for meds if I was in a any discomfort or pain over Easter

I didn't even need a panadol.

People love telling you scary stories...pay no heed and save the tooth

digzy

Without seeing you chairside it's difficult to decide your best option. Usually teeth requiring RCT/extraction are quite badly broken down.If choosing RCT discuss with your dentist the prognosis for a restoration. in the majority of cases the RCT is preferable for a number of reasons.

I love the reaction of people when I say 'root canal'.There's no reason why pain should be any more of an issue than with a filling.It's pretty slow though-especially molars.Sometimes we refer the more complex cases to endodontists.

There's no right or wrong.use this forum to asist but i'd use your own dentist's opinion as a definitive guide. Please dont allow silly tales put you off.The 'knee on the chest' story pops up twice a day on average.I can guarantee you that never happened anywhere-unless by a non dentist!

Doop

I had a 'RTC' in a molar very far back top left... 100% painless.
Its long and very slightly uncomfortable but 0 pain involved (well for me anyway)

I was shaking like a leaf going in to get it... when I left I was like... that wasn't bad at all!

Personally id rather hang onto my teeth even if it is more expensive than getting it pulled.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

drunkmonkey wrote: »

It's the worst pain ever. There's no drug on the planet that will stop the pain. You will cry, you will headbutt the wall to take away the pain from your mouth, you will rub whiskey and cloves in your gum, you will need some time of work, you will wish you pulled out the tooth.

Thats such a idiot thing to post, are you trying to be clever, trying to put people off dental work, trying to make yourself seem knowledgeable (fail) :mad:

Root canal is painless, tooth ache it the thing that is painful. Stick to telling the war stories for down the pub.

helimachoptor

Nickolas Wet Toothpaste wrote: »

Thats such a idiot thing to post, are you trying to be clever, trying to put people off dental work, trying to make yourself seem knowledgeable (fail) :mad:

Root canal is painless, tooth ache it the thing that is painful. Stick to telling the war stories for down the pub.

Agree with fitz, I had a 3 hour root canal that required a building back up of the tooth, a post (maybe the same thing) and then a crown, the sorest thing about it was keeping my mouth open for 3 hours, everything else was painless.

How Strange

I had root canal done on one of my front teeth a couple of years ago. I was in excruciating pain beforehand when I had the abscess so I was very nervous about root canal. I was completely numbed up and I felt nothing.

As someone else said the worse part is keeping your mouth open for so long.

drunkmonkey

Nickolas Wet Toothpaste wrote: »

Thats such a idiot thing to post, are you trying to be clever, trying to put people off dental work, trying to make yourself seem knowledgeable (fail).

do you think I was making it up, my root canal treatement was probably the most physically painfull thing I've done, 2 weeks off work in agony. I don't know if it was a bad dentist or just went wrong but it hurt!

davo10

Or it could be that you let your tooth become so infected it took a while for the tissues to heal. Either way the OP was looking for some reassurance not a clown trying to scaremonger.

drunkmonkey

davo10 wrote: »

Or it could be that you let your tooth become so infected it took a while for the tissues to heal. Either way the OP was looking for some reassurance not a clown trying to scaremonger.

i had a mild infection in the tooth the dentist looked at it Friday, asked me to take some antibiotics and come back Tuesday after a bankholiday, tooth pain erupted on the Saturday, do you know how impossible it is to get a dentist on the Saturday of a bankholiday!

Name calling is for the School yard, grow up a little!

I'm wasn't scaremongering, i went through hell with the whole treatement, that was my experience, if it goes wrong it will hurt, op should be in no doubt about that! You'll notice i didn't tell op not to do it, I'd probably get it again, i value my teeth!

Borderfox

Would agree with all above, no pain at all for RCT on bottom front. Bit of a dilemma with the keep/extraction but at least a crown will keep something there whereas an extraction will lose bone.

deisemum

If your dentist thinks there's a good chance of saving your tooth then I think it's worth it. If you have it extracted you could compromise the other teeth in the long run and if you later opt for a bridge or denture that's more expense.

I've had a few RCTs mostly the result of falling off a bike and breaking some teeth, the RCTs didn't hurt once the local was administered and I only felt the odd twinge on 1 or 2 but was given local directly into tooth so no big deal.

day dreamer

The most painful part is the injection, otherwise root canal treatment is fine.

Drunk Monkey if you get an infection prior to root canal treatment or some latent infection is disturbed by the process it can of course be sore but this is exceptional and thousands have this done very week in Ireland

You were a very cute baby by the way!

res ipsa

How Strange wrote: »

As someone else said the worse part is keeping your mouth open for so long.

Ask your dentist for a bite block if this is a problem, it alllows you to rest your jaw while it is propped open.

Curunina

I have had two roots canals done - one by an endodontist and one by my normal dentist, and honestly it was completely, totally and utterly painless. I had mildly increased sensitivity to cold weather (breathing in winter air) but that settled in a few days.
Honestly, I found it less troublesome than a filling! You would be crazy to lose a tooth if you have a decent prognosis with the RTC, you're not growing any more of them!!
I think that RTC just has a bit of a branding problem...