ExRx.net

Just at the dentist the other day and apparently am in need of a root canal. I have talked with several people that have had them that tell me they weren't effective at what they were supposed to do and in some cases, made things worse as far as pain goes. After plenty of internet scouring and research I am quite torn on having one performed or an extraction. It is a back tooth and wouldn't be the end of the word were it missing. I certainly know the clinical evidence supports them, just looking for ancedotal evidence that they don't cause long term complications.My dentist told me my tooth was "dead" and that's why I wasn't feeling any pain (I had initially called because of tooth pain, but when I cleaned up my diet with sugars as I was slipping with that, and rinsed my mouth with salt water a couple of times a day, the pain had gone away). The thing is I did a test to supposedly test if it was dead, which was putting some ice on the tooth to see if i could feel it, and clearly felt the coldness. I am really not seeking medical advice, just confirmation that a root canal has worked for others. Anybody who has had one care to shed some light?

I've had a couple and my wife has had at least 1. We've had no trouble at all. One of mine was several years ago, and was done in stages, cleaning the canal and packing it with something. Back several days later for another procedure, and again later to finally fill the canal. The more recent ones are much simpler, usually done in a single appointment.

It's worth it to keep a potentially useful tooth. What's the worst that could happen? Decide that you really need to have the tooth pulled?

Remember that any procedure can have complications. That fact shouldn't be a reason not to have procedures that you need. Even an extraction can have complications.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

yep, that's another reason I dont go.

Every time I'm sitting in the dentist's chair enduring the discomfort, I tell myself, tomorrow it'll be all over. And it's true, without fail.