So I went the the endodontist today to evaluate my root canal. He said radiographically it looked good and then I told him my concerns about formocresol. He was an older dentist so I didn't have high hopes.

He was shocked and actually called the other office in front of me to confirm it was indeed formocresol. He kept saying how concerned he was and did nothing to aliviate my fears. When I told him he was scaring me he said "I just want to tell you the facts".

He suggested I talk to a neurologist and/or ENT about this. I told him I was going to see an oral surgeon friday and he suggested I speak to him as well since he wasn't certain if removal of the tooth would be helpful.

Needless to say he scared the crap out of me. I called my general dentist and we talked for 45minutes about this. As I say he is a nice guy. He suggested I talk to the oral surgeon as well if for nothing else but documentation purposes in a worse case scenerio. He felt that this was a simple extraction and he could do it if I wanted. Because I have been getting worse everyday I opted to have the tooth removed tonight.

He scrpaed the area thoroughly afterwards and cleaned it then did an xray that saw 2 small pieces of material in the bone which he then removed.

I still see my oral surgeon on thursday for a consultation but I felt I needed this tooth out RIGHT NOW if it wasn't already too late.

So far so good afterwards, minimal pain (after 600mg of ibuprofen) and the bleeding seems to have stopped.

THe tooth smelled faintly of formocresol, the dentist agreed with me.

I know the feelings of some people here towards root canals so I imagine endodontists are not their favorite people but the guy today was knowledgable and I liked how he didn't try to hide or make excuses for the first dentist but rather was fairly open in his condemnation "formocresol hasn't been the standard of practice for half a century".

Next stop oral surgeon and the neurologist I guess. I'm really hoping that this a sensitivity issue and that now the vapours are gone the problem may get better, even a little would be nice.

I hope I did the right thing. I'm going to take pain meds round the clock till all pain (fairly minor anyway) is gone. I don't want any nerves firing off crazily sensitizing things if I can prevent it.