So, that was a root canal?
 

Ohmygosh!!


I just had the root canal.

My mom lied about how easy they are. It WAS as BAD as I thought it was going to be. Maybe a little bit more.

The novocaine didnt numb me up quite to the point where the dentist (and I) wanted it to be at. My ear is numb (inside) and feels weird and itches and everything else seems to be numb, but that tooth is a little flaming ball of pain. The infection wouldnt let a lot of the novocaine thru to the nerve. She gave me the total amount of novocaine allowed and it still hurt!

I'm just going to curl up into a fetal ball and cry now.

I know why I'm claustrophobic now. My childhood dentist when I was 4 or 5yrs old had put fillings in my baby teeth, and he used to use the rubber dams and he'd use the big clamp thingies to keep my mouth open...and he'd tie me down to the chair. This was probably around 35 years ago, before parents started to accompany their kids into the rooms with the dentist.

When the dentist pulled out that dental dam and was getting ready to put it on the tooth, I had an actual flashback to when I was little at the quack dentists office. I'm actually shaking, and it was all because of that stupid piece of rubber.

At least this dentist didnt tie me down. But, that rubber dam just triggered one heck of a memory for me.

Well, now at least I'm pretty sure why I'm claustrophobic. Wish that quack dentist was still alive so I could go smash all his teeth in.

ok, time to go curl up into that fetal ball in the corner and cry.

I'm sorry it was so horrible but cut Mom some slack this time, lol. I've had three and they really weren't bad. Hope you feel better soon.

I fell asleep during my root canal.:o

its hard to completely numb the area when its still so infected and the tissues so sensitive. My anxiety level keeps my adreneline flowing, and that pumps out the novacaine as fast as they pump it in. They can use carbocaine, or lidocaine and its longer acting.

Im glad the hard part is over. Now that the infected area has been removed, it wont hurt to finish the rest of the steps.

its all over! :hug: you did great.

I have had 2, and neither was really that bad. I have had fillings worked on that were worse. My dentist said that the problem most people run into is that they wait until the pain is already excruciating before they come to the dentist. The dentist can only do so much to numb it when the swelling and infection has already inflamed the nerve and made it extra sensitive. In my case, she caught both of them fairly early and we did the root canal before it got inflammed and overly painful.

Relax though...the hard part is over. The worst of the rest is just trying to get your bite right on the new crown.

I have to wait till the 8th to get the new crown. Unless someone calls to cancel, and they ask me to come in early.

I just wish the novocaine/lidocaine? would wear off. My jaw is no longer as numb, but my lower lip is still seriously numb. I'm hoping this is just because she gave me the maximum amount of stuff. She started around 9am, and it's 140pm now.

I hope it wears off soon. The numbness is just a lot creepy to me, because of the MS and all...I want it to wear off now!

At least my tooth doesnt hurt...yet. The muscles in my jaw are super sore because it's hard to keep your mouth wide open while they're drilling into the tooth and the nerve trying to crawl out thru your ear.

I'm sorry to hear about your bad dental experience!:hug: As the others said though ... at least it is over now and you got through it!!

I had a root canal at the beginning of this year when I had the abscessed tooth and it was really painful! The Dentist had to inject me 7 times before the anaesthetic began to take affect! With my RSD (which is similar to MS), I often need more anaesthetic otherwise it doesn't take effect. My Pain Management Doctor said that I need twice as much anaesthetic as a normal person.

The Dentist kept hitting my nerves and it was really painful! She said though that a normal person would just scream and go running out where as because I have chronic pain, I don't feel it as much and can sort of 'tolerate' it as it's not as bad as the pain I deal with on a daily basis!

Once the root canal was over though and everything settled down, everything was OK and I felt a lot better for it!

I hope you feel better soon!

I actually feel a little bit better than I did after my last post in this thread.

I just noticed that the sensation of numbness in my left hand has let up. It's been a sort of constant sensation in my ring finger and index finger since Christmas, and it's been getting better all week since I started taking antibiotics, and it's feeling a lot less numb than it did this morning. It's still there, but not as tingly as it has been.

I wonder if it works that fast? Taking away the infection by having the dentist clean it out? That would be amazing if it works that way. I doubt it does. It's probably from the antibiotics I've been taking to kill the infection.

The anaesthetic feels like it's starting to metabolize out of me too. The numbness has let up in the last half hour.

I'm just afraid I'm going to damage the temporary filling. I'm scared to eat anything. I think I'm having spaghetti tonight.

It's weird. It felt like I had pressure in my jaw around that tooth for the longest time. Now that the dentist cleaned it out, it feels like someone let some of the pressure off. I guess I didnt realize just how bad it had gotten. I think that tooth has needed a root canal for a loooooong time...like since before I got diagnosed with the MS. (diagnosed in 2007. I've had soreness there for years) I wonder if that tooth is one of the reasons my MS appeared when it did.

I'm blaming that tooth for why the MS gremlins have been so active, screwing around with my body for the past few months.

I thought I felt better (MS-wise) after having the dental work last month...that only lasted about two weeks. I was feeling kind of weak and unsteady the last week and a half.

I cant wait for this tooth to get it's little crown. Then I wont be so scared of damaging the tooth.

I hope that finally getting all this dental work finished the MS will calm down some more.

a heating pad will help the novacaine wear off.

Cool, I'm getting my heating pad out. I still have a couple of spots in my mouth that are so irritatingly numb.

And then I'm going to go pop an Aleve...and maybe a Baclofen. The dentist said I was shaking because there's adrenaline in the novocaine/lidocaine anesthetic. My muscles are all sore now from all the shaking.

I did take a two hour nap that really really helped (I'd only had maybe 5 hours of sleep) I slept thru a lot of that numbness wearing off.

Now I'm just terrified that I'm going to damage the temporary filling. Starving right now, but I'm afraid to go eat anything.

you can chew on the other side, or eat soft foods. Mash up your dinner. Eat soup, or puree style foods if you really cant trust yourself. tomorrow you should be fine to eat normal foods.

Carbocaine is novacaine without the epinephrine in it. They use epi because it restricts blood flow to the area, and creates less bleeding in the surgical field. If you are extra nervous, and your in mid panic, you can cause the stuff to flush right out, almost as fast as they give it. Its important to relax, meditate, go to your happy place. It hurt so much because the area was so infected, and swollen. tender tissue is very tough to numb.

Im glad its all over. :hug:

I just had soup. (it had okra in it...ewww! had to be selective in whatever green stuff I was scooping up) It wasnt bad, and I ate some Ritz Crackers with it, so I'm not starving to death any more.

I'm going to haul out a jar of Prego and some spaghetti noodles for dinner later tonight.

Right now I'm rewarding myself with the last Hershey bar from our stash. Just letting it melt in my mouth and enjoying the taste of the chocolate. (I can still taste the Oil of Clove that's on the teeny tiny cotton balls under the temporary filling...weird mixture with the chocolate)

I wanted to eat these cookies that my parents buy at Costco that have cranberries, almonds and raisins in them, but they're crunchy and kind of chewy, and thought that maybe I should save those for some other time.

Local anesthetics
 

Erin
Here is a tip for the future, when the numbness seems to be hanging on forever.
Drink some hot [not scalding] coffee or tea and the numbness will disappear fairly quickly!
At first I thought he was pulling my leg and just wanted to watch me drool the liquid all over, but I have done it and it really does work!

Glad you survived the root canal and hang in there the worst is over.


Take Care
Risby

I have given up completely on being numbed! Now I just go to an oral surgeon for everything and tell him to put me out! After having several fillings where I could still feel the drill, I now have panic/anxiety attacks any time I go to the dentist. I can barely even stand to have my teeth cleaned!

At least the worst is over, and you should start feeling lots better now!

I know that if I ever have to have another root canal, I'm going to be having a panic attack when they get out the rubber dam that goes over the tooth while they're working.

I finally figured out why I'm claustrophobic, and it all relates to that stupid rubber dam and being tied down by the dentist.

When the tech got that rubber dam out and was getting ready to hand it to the dentist to put over my tooth, I had an actual flashback to when I was about 4 or 5 years old and the quack dentist that we had then tied me to a chair, propped my mouth open with metal clamp thingies and put the rubber dam over my face to do dental work.

It's because of that...a...umm...jerk...that I'm claustrophobic now. I hate having anything near my face (like a giant MRI magnet, or the plastic head holder thingie they use in the brain MRI's) I really really did not like having that rubber dam in front of my face the other day.

I think I WAS having a panic attack during the root canal. I was shaking so much then that my arms are really sore from all the shaking now.

At least I feel better now, and not just the tooth. I feel better, I'm kind of having some weird MS tingly feelings this weekend, but I feel good...like I'd been feeling sick for a really long time, and I'm suddenly better. I must have had one heck of an infection in that tooth. I didnt realize I was in pain all the time.

It's kind of nice to not be in pain. I feel like I have pulled muscles, but that's a lot better than feeling sick and wanting to cry because my face hurt.

I wonder if root canals are contaigious? (just kidding)
 

I was just talking to my boyfriend a little bit ago.

He's had a toothache for a few days. Well, now he's complaining of a LOT of pain. I asked him a few questions, and he sounds like he's got an abscess too. He took something like 5 or 6 advil (eeek!!!) to kill the pain earlier. Hope his liver (or is it his kidneys?) live thru that.

He cant afford to go to the ER, and I'm willing to bet that he really desperately needs an antibiotic NOW before he even thinks of having anything drilled into.

He said that Orajel didnt even touch the pain (it worked pretty good for me the other day)

I just wish that he hadnt told me that he poked the sore spot with something to make it bleed. (ewww! I hope that didnt spread any infection to other really important parts of his body!) I dont understand why he does that. Ewww!

I hope he can get thru it and get to the dentist monday. (he goes to the dental school for any dental work he needs, hope he doesnt scare any students)

I wish I had some antibiotics to give him. (my dentist gave me a couple of Rx's to use after the last couple of fillings I had done...gave those to my dad 2 months ago when he had a couple of dental infections)

I'm almost done with my Keflex (abx that's good for dental infections) and no one's getting them away from me, I want my infection to be dead by the time I'm done with the abx's. Otherwise I'd give them to the boyfriend.

He sounds like he's worse off than I was last week...I cant even imagine how much he hurts. I have a good idea, but if he's popping Advil like Tic-Tacs, then he's way worse than I was.

I kind of wish that I'd told him that I could smell infection in his mouth a few weeks ago. (It's a smell that if you've ever smelled it, you wont forget it. I told my dad about his last 2 dental infections because I could smell them from across the room. His dentist told me I was right) Maybe if I'd told my boyfriend I could smell it then, he might have gotten to a dentist earlier. I just didnt want to offend him by telling him that he had an odor.

You know what's worse tha a root canal? Half a root canal.

I went for mine two weeks ago, after a week of anti biotics - due to infection (which triggered a UTI and kidney stones).

Doc #1 started, but I still had a lot of pain. He gave me another shot and the pain went away, but my BP dropped and I almost fainted.

They were freaked and stopped.

I had to go to an edodontrist, who had to use 2 different kinds of shots to numb me. He kept oxygen tanks by the door, he was so scared I was gonna get all funny on him.

Took him 4 hrs to finish that tooth. My whole jaw still aches.

Never again. They can PULL em if they get that bad!

I think Dej's post about the Carbocaine is good for people with MS to know about. I was having a wisdom tooth pulled a few years back and the regular Novacaine caused my heart to race and for me to have nerve pain in my neck and arm. Ever since then I've requested Carbocaine ( after reading about it on another MS board about someone having a similar effect from Novacaine) when I need dental work done and I like it much better!


I hope you're feeling better today, Erin!:hug:

I find regular novacaine makes my heart race, and tends to ramp up my anxiety. I always ask for carbacaine. its been my saving grace. I take a xanax or two before I go, and try to find my happy place. I used to sweat, and my BP would go crazy.

They can give you ONE with the epi in it to keep the field clear of blood, and the rest carbacaine to keep YOU clear. hehe.