RCT... :(

Solari

Solari

Solari

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So I've been putting it off and now a temporary filling has started crumbling, I am booking an appointment to get Root Canal Treatment done, followed by a crown on one of my my upper left molars... joy!

Fortunately this will be done privately by a very good dentist. Previous sessions have been completely painless... anyone else care to share their experiences with this as from googling, it doesn't look pleasant!
 
They ****ing knack, wouldn't be surprised if 90% of the people who get them cry - even the men.

Not to worry you or anything, good luck :)
 
Ben M said:
Depends what point of view you're looking from...

your mouth= fortunate
your wallet= unfortunate

:D
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Yeah it's expensive but I'd rather throw the cash away than endure an hour of pain from a barbaric NHS dentist. :D The last NHS dentist I went to ensured that I never had any dental treatment for several years - fortunately I took good care of my teeth before going private :p
 
I had to get a root canal done because a tooth wasn't fully cleaned out before a filling went in :(. I don't remember much about the procedure, mainly because I was doped up on diazepam. It hurt a LOT afterwards though, and I had to take several days off work because I couldn't move my jaw to talk (yay for call centre work).
 
Ive had RCT and didn't hurt at all although I know a couple of people who have had it done and had 1-2 days off work.
 
I had one on a molar, quite painless actually.
Half the filling had fallen out and over time had become infected, basically had a boil on my gum next to the tooth.
Didn't even have any pain killers/injections as the tooth had completely died. Dentist drilled out the dead nerve down to the very bottom, stuck in a metal spike to take an x-ray (which was actually the scariest bit as if I closed my mouth it would have pushed the spike into my gum). He then filled it in with some special antibiotics and a temporary filling, week later I had the permanent work done.
 
Cheers for the reassurance :) I really should have had it done in March but other things took priority - I'm guessing I'll get an ear-chewing for leaving it late but meh...
 
There should be some other threads on here about root canal treatment.
I'll give my standard answer.
I had one that turned me into a little crying baby and the next one a few months later I didn't feel.
I asked the dentist and he said the 1st had a live root and the 2nd had a dead root.
 
dmpoole said:
There should be some other threads on here about root canal treatment.
I'll give my standard answer.
I had one that turned me into a little crying baby and the next one a few months later I didn't feel.
I asked the dentist and he said the 1st had a live root and the 2nd had a dead root.
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I know this tooth still has a live nerve... hopefully I'll be so pumped up with local anaesthetic that I won't feel a thing... :( FWIW my dentist has assured me that I won't feel much at all and to ignore horror stories ;) I do trust her from the past few treatments so just a waiting game now.

Ugh. I feel sorry for people that can't afford private care and end up with a cowboy (I'm sure some NHS dentists are fine, but not in my experience!)
 
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Solari said:
I know this tooth still has a live nerve... hopefully I'll be so pumped up with local anaesthetic that I won't feel a thing... :
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I had so many injections that he couldn't give me anymore and I still cried and I've got quite a high tolerance to pain.
My mother took me on the day because there was no way I could drive and it must have been strange watching a 45 year old bloke crying on his mummy's shoulder.
She just said 'Bloody hell, the pain you've gone through in the past without flinching, that must have really hurt'.
 
Ouch :(

I was debating whether to just have the damn thing out, but I'm not sure if I could get used to a hole in my row of teeth! I'm also wondering whether the other teeth would be susceptible to moving, which wouldn't be good.
 
Solari said:
Ugh. I feel sorry for people that can't afford private care and end up with a cowboy (I'm sure some NHS dentists are fine, but not in my experience!)
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Odd really, as they will both have attended the same standard of dental school. Some probably attended the same dental school as each other, but one was lucky, the others not so.
 
Kol said:
Odd really, as they will both have attended the same standard of dental school. Some probably attended the same dental school as each other, but one was lucky, the others not so.
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I wonder if the NHS dentists are rushing to hit govt. targets and the like, hence might not take as much care/time over their work? :confused: Also they might not want to use certain equipment or techniques due to budget constraints?
 
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Solari said:
I wonder if the NHS dentists are rushing to hit govt. targets and the like, hence might not take as much care/time over their work? :confused: Also they might not want to use certain equipment or techniques due to budget restraints?
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Sounds about right to be honest.
 
I just had this done today, and to be honest, it was a non-event. It went like this from what I remember:

- Numbing Gel on gums
- Computerised local anaesthetic thingy put into gum which I didn't feel at all
- Some prodding by dentist
- More local anaesthetic
- Rubber Dam put around tooth (felt a bit uncomfortable on the opposite side of the gum at first but nothing bad)
- Drilling taking out temporary filling
- Drilling down into the molar
- Filing out of the root canals (4 of them!) and removal of nerve, along with anti bacterial rinsing
- Another temporary filling put in ready for crowning at next appt.

Basically, I didn't feel a thing, and now the local anaesthetic has worn off, all I feel is a bit of discomfort where the needle went into the gum. That's about it really. They even put a camera in and showed me what the canals looked like :p

I would definitely recommend the BUPA Wellness dental clinic in Cornhill - they do a great job and make sure you feel absolutely no pain whatsoever (even the hygeinists will use numbing gel and give you LA if you really want it).

I thought I'd post for the benefit of those who are terrified and might have this coming up :)

For the record - I still had live roots/nerve and tooth.
 
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Ive got an appointment next week to get a tooth removed.

It cracked in half and ive been in pain on and off for about a week now. The same happened directly opposite the culprit and i had that removed last year. I hate the pulling feeling when there taking the shattered tooth out but it didn't hurt one bit.
 
Damien. said:
Ive got an appointment next week to get a tooth removed.

It cracked in half and ive been in pain on and off for about a week now. The same happened directly opposite the culprit and i had that removed last year. I hate the pulling feeling when there taking the shattered tooth out but it didn't hurt one bit.
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Which way did it crack? This is what happened to my molar, and it was put to me that I could save it, so this was the option. Not sure if you've seen the papers today but at least the NHS is suffering with a lot of unnecessary removals when more complex procedures like RCT could save the tooth and avoid teeth shifting etc in future.

Call me weird but I found the vibration from the drill quite relaxing.
 
ive had both those treatments before and they are a doddle

dont worry about it, it sounds worse than it is :)
 
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