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.

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! 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! 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.