root canal information

subway

I've had some problems with a rear molar which my dentist has repaired a few times but each time I've had issues so it's getting to the point where he is recommending that a root canal with crown is probably the best route to save the tooth from further pain / infection / damage.

im fine with this and have a consultation in a few weeks to assess the current state (some pain on biting) and what the next steps are going to be.

im posting here to hopefully get some general info so that i can have an informed discussion about options, so have a few questions for the dental professionals on here.

will root canal likely be a "permanent" fix? is it always successful or what happens when it isn't?
are there other options we should try or that i could ask my dentist to rule out?
what are the costs associated with a root canal?
what is involved in getting a crown? is it glued or fixed by metal?
are there different options of crown that offer better resilience or value etc and should we discuss these or is it generally all the same?

for me, its not all about the costs, but about getting the correct solution as this will be my 7th visit for this tooth (inspection, white filling, dressing, metal filling, white filling after sidewall crack, inspection due to continued pain).

thanks for reading, i suppose also to add, i do have a good routine now, so im not concerned about further degradation, other than normal wear and tear. im just paying for the usual irish situation of not going to the dentist for 20years. other than a few cavities, this was the main problem. i suppose i can thank the EHB for simply extracting any tooth that had an issue for my reluctance to return after age 12

livingthedream

Well I had a similar experience probably about 8 years ago.

Like yourself I hadn't been to the dentist for probably 10 years and had an old filling that fell out causing this issue

As far as the process was concerned, the actual procedure itself is not painful despite the horror stories you hear. It's just a bit uncomfortable keeping your mouth open for that length of time. After they file out the roots, they inject a rubber cement compound afaik to fill up the voids where the root was.

While the root canal procedure itself is not painful the 'tooth' will be very sensitive to pressure for approx a week afterwards, I woke myself on a number of occasions when I bit on it while asleep.

In my case I also got a crown and as part of the root canal a metal post is put in place in the tooth to which the crown is later fixed to after the tooth has fully recovered from root canal.

Cost wise it was very expensive as with all things dental in this country, especially back then. My dentist didn't do the root canal, I went to a specialist for that but my dentist did the crown. IIRC it was about 800 euros for each procedure at the time. I had dental cover on my VHI which paid for 70% of it (think they only cover 50% now) and I was able to claim some back on PRSI too (at the higher rate back then too).

I have seen a lot of adverts for much cheaper procedures nowadays though..

On the plus side I now visit the dentist twice a year for cleanings and checkups and make my next appointment each time I leave and as a result all my visits since have been pain free and pleasant.

Hope that answers some questions....

~LTD