Root canal - no anesthetic!

zgull

In January I had to had root canal done on one of my back teeth by what must have been the most arrogant dentist in the country. He refused to give me any anesthetic as he wanted to "get feedback from the tooth". I went to him three times for the root canal treatment with no pain relief at all. I asked and asked for the anesthetic but there was no way I was getting it. The pain, especially the first time was unbelievable. I would clench my hands to try block out the pain and he told me to relax! Seriously, how could someone relax with that happening to them? He was so rough doing the treatment that he actually split my lip and made it bleed. Another time he really hurt me, on reflex I jumped and he actually gave out to me! I asked him to just let me know what he was going to do so I could prepare for it and he told me that it was his job to do the work and mine to sit down and be quiet.
At the time I knew it was awful getting it done without the anesthetic but I figured he's a pretty well known dentist so he must know what he is doing but with the more I've thought about it and the more people I've spoken to, I'm beginning to think that it's not normal to go through root canal with no pain relief at all. Has anyone else been through it? The tooth is still hurting me and I'm wondering if I'll have to get root canal done again? The thoughts of going in there again frightens the life out of me!

KTRIC

Oh dear, that sounds pretty f*cked up if you ask me. Doesn't sound right at all.

ballsymchugh

why oh why oh why oh why did you go back??

i've read about people getting it done under hynosis, but that just sounds like someone on a trip, well known or not. actually, can't think of a dentist in ireland that's well known in the mainstream world, except for that o'grady guy that had his finger cut off by the border fox. maybe it was him, and it's payback time?

btkm8unsl0w5r4

I do a number of procedures without anesthetic.....but at the slightest sign of a hint of a whiff of discomfort I would give it straight away, no questions. This sound a bit stone aged.

digzy

OP I'm taking your post at face value here. That sounds horrible. i'd go to an endodontist and I'd look for a refund from the dentist. So sorry to hear this!

MagicMarker

I really can't understand why you went back not once, but twice!

Jaysus, I'm pretty hardcore pain wise but I wouldn't have a root canal with no anesthetic. Just the thought makes me wince.

georgieporgy

It could be that the tooth was non vital to start with (ie. the nerve was dead) so no pain would be felt unless the instruments went through the apex and the dentist would use this pain response to alert him that he was at the apex.

this approach worked ok in the 70s and 80s but may not suit today's customers.

ballsymchugh

georgieporgy wrote: »

this approach worked ok in the 70s and 80s but may not suit today's customers.

from what i'm hearing, it's not unusual in modern NHS dentistry too!

by the way, why the sunglasses? very unusual first post. hmmmmmm....

albert.frost

KTRIC wrote: »

Oh dear, that sounds pretty f*cked up if you ask me. Doesn't sound right at all.

Root canal treatment is one of the most feared and misunderstands situations in dentistry.But due to advancement in technology and medical practices, it has become a routine process and do not give much pain. Process of root canal includes accessing the interior chamber of the tooth. (nerve chamber)The interior chamber of tooth gets cleaned before shaped and irrigated before being filled. The filling seals the inside of the tooth and signifies the end of the living tissue residing in the treated tooth.

mod edit: spammer. Banned. Links removed.

zgull

Thanks everyone for the replies!
I know, I really shouldn't have gone back but to be honest it didn't dawn on me not to. He had already started and I knew that subsequent visits couldn't be as bad as that first time (I wasn't wrong - it was close though). He started the process and he was to finish it. I had been going to that practice since I was a child - note the "had!" and it was what was familiar to me, so I stuck with it. Also I really thought he knew what he was doing, and that it was the norm.
Anyway, I went to a different dentist yesterday, he took an x-ray and it looks like there might be a bit of the file still in there (oowwww!). I could have cried. Just the thoughts of getting it opened up again leaves me in a cold sweat. I've to go to a specialist and let them have a look. More money. I reallly don't want the tooth pulled though, we've been through so much together (!). I have kids and I can honestly say that the pain of the root canal comes a very close second to that of child birth. Ok so it doesn't take as long...
I can understand him wanting the feedback from the tooth, hence the lack of anesthesia but seriously I gave him plenty of it and I was told to be quiet. Oh I don't know, i'll see what the specialist says and I'll be back in there with the results.
At the end of the day it is my tooth and I should have looked after it better but I'm just so annoyed about the whole service I've received from that practice over the last few months. I have been back there about 4 times with this tooth and each time a bit more is shaved off and I'm sent on my way. They took an x-ray and told me it was fine and I was more or less thrown out of the office. Did they see the file and decide to say nothing? I don't know. I will be asking though!

By the way ballsymchugh, I am a new poster on boards.ie but I am no novice to the internet and I love smilies !!

ballsymchugh

when a file becomes 'separated' in the tooth, you have to be informed if it will cause a problem. sometimes it can be bypassed, and the actions of the subsequent filing will push it to one side enough so that it becomes embedded in the dentine, so that the treatment can continue. some dentists will have special tools for taking out broke.. sorry, separated files either.

another thing is, your dentist may have told you, but you may not have been in the mood to listen to him. it happens all the time, especially with instructions for after an extraction. i'm not saying that he definitely said it, but there's a chance that if he did, you didn't take it in, given the goings on there was.