Dentist suggested root canal :(

[GuyAnxiety]

I had some pain over the past couple of days on my front tooth, I also had a little bit of swelling. I had a rather large filling on this tooth 6-7 months ago.

The pain gets pretty intense sometimes, I thought it was an abcess due to the swelling so I got an emergency appointment at my dentist today.

They did an xray and the root of the tooth is infected, from what I understand there isn't actually an abcess...yet.

The dentist said it's impossible to know when it will form an abcess, she said it could be tomorrow or it could be in 5 years time.

She said she could have done root canal treatment there and then to get rid of the infected root, but I'm terrified of the fact that I'll have to sit in the dentist chair for an hour. Evertyime I have dental work done I start shaking and get a racing heart and feel dizzy half way through.

I declined the root canal and she suggested that I go back in 6 months and see how it's doing.

I made an appointment with a different dentist because I didn't feel very comfortable with the one I saw today, she was a nice woman but for some reason I feel more comfortable with a male dentist. The appointment is on the 16th March.

If I do get more intense pain and or more face swelling I guess the only option is to have root canal. :(

She didn't prescribe any antibiotics because it was only a tiny infection, she said the swelling will go down if I keep doing salt water rinses.

I didn't ask her how often I should be doing them so I've been doing them once a hour, is this to much or not enough?

[b4eve]

You don't need to be rinsing hourly but, on the other hand, it isn't going to do any harm.

I'm going through a big tale of woe with what used to be my front tooth and I would urge you to get it dealt with quickly in the hope that you don't end up with a similarly drawn out problem. That's easy for me to say though as I don't have any fear of dental work. My son is quite averse to dental treatment and has endured a painful tooth for the last two and a half years because of that fear. He developed an abcess at the end of last summer and he finally had a root canal (his first at 22) done just over a week ago. He found it nowhere near as bad as he feared and he's really pleased now that the tooth has been dealt with.

[b4eve]

I've lost mine now (totally, after an unsuccessful crown) and I'm waiting to get a bridge . I'm afraid the cost is pretty terrifying, the failed crown cost me about £500 and the bridge will cost me £1500. There are cheaper options and I'm sure the dentist will talk you through them but the sooner you start work on the tooth, the more options you will have. Some dentists are great with nervous patients and some less so. I know my dental practice has a website where the dentists advertise the specialisms and some actually state that they're good with settling nervous patients (not sure how good a guarantee that is that they really are good though). I do understand your fear and I'm sure your dentist will too. At most points in the treatment they can stop and let you "take a breather" if you need it (they had to do this when my 8 year old was freaking out) so you should ask them. I bet if you know that you have the control to do that then the problem won't arise

[GuyAnxiety]

I've lost mine now (totally, after an unsuccessful crown) and I'm waiting to get a bridge . I'm afraid the cost is pretty terrifying, the failed crown cost me about £500 and the bridge will cost me £1500. There are cheaper options and I'm sure the dentist will talk you through them but the sooner you start work on the tooth, the more options you will have. Some dentists are great with nervous patients and some less so. I know my dental practice has a website where the dentists advertise the specialisms and some actually state that they're good with settling nervous patients (not sure how good a guarantee that is that they really are good though). I do understand your fear and I'm sure your dentist will too. At most points in the treatment they can stop and let you "take a breather" if you need it (they had to do this when my 8 year old was freaking out) so you should ask them. I bet if you know that you have the control to do that then the problem won't arise

Thanks for the reply, yeh the dentist I signed up with there was one that said he specialises with patients who are anxious but sadly he was to busy to take anyone else on, so I had to settle with someone else at the practice.

I just hope I don't get an abcess or more intense pain till the 16th March

[Patsta]

Hi Guy,
If you find the pain worsening go to your gp and ask for some antibiotics...tooth pain and infection is the absolute worst...I've had my fair share of them. As for root canal...its not as bad as it sounds...I've had 3 of them...and if your dentist is good and you feel comfortable with him/her...then I suggest you do it so as to avoid problems later. I've had to have a couple teeth removed because I let them go to long before seeking treatment on them!
Good Luck!

[blueangel]

I used to have terrible problems with dentists and didn't go for many years, with the consequence that I've had to have loads of corrective work done. I've now had three root canals, and they're actually nowhere near as bad as you would think.

My dentist is absolutely excellent (he's in the West Midlands and I travel 60 miles to see him these days) and I can honestly say I've had no pain when I've had them done, other than the few seconds of having the injection. Having had tooth abscesses, a root canal is infinitely preferable to the agony you get if the infection gets really bad!

[Geoff2301]

I just had a very expensive rootcanal on a back tooth..... £700!....... don't think the nhs will do them on back teeth. Very fiddly job involving 2 vists each one well over an hour. On the plus side, there was no pain or discomfort at all and all went very smoothly. The good news is you're dealing with a front tooth which is much simpler...... easier to access and only has one root instead of the 4 my tooth had!
If you can pluck up the courage, you'd do best to get the root canal done asap....... from what I've understood, it cannot get better..... antibiotics just give a very temporary treatment to the abscess if it forms but the infection always returns.

[Natalie2389]

Hi I no this is an old thread but I have root canal on Tuesday and I’m petrified