Dental treatment

[DuzyEverwork]

Go on someone.. put my mind at rest, if the nice man in the white coat and face mask has wielded his instruments of torture and given you root canal treatment does this mean that from this day hence at least that tooth wont give you any more jip, regardless of what it's neighbours do? Comfortably Numb, Trudi ;o)

[j2buttonsw]

Root canal treatment is essentially removing all the nerves from the tooth then capping it off. Theory goes that it should all be OK but it may "flair up" every so often. I had root canal treatment and a crown seven or eight years ago and it has been 99.9% fine (it goes sensitive every onece in a while). I was also told there was a 90% success rate for the treatment?: in other words it can fail...

[DuzyEverwork]

Now look Buttons, you have made me a very happy bunny in the past with your answers to my computer nightmares but this is not so reassuring, the tooth in question has snapped horizontally and I havent got time to go to the dentists before we go on holiday... so I am hoping NOT to have a 'flare up'.. but thanks for the answer anyway!!.. I shall award you 2 stars forthwith :o)

[Mrs_Pegasus]

I have had a root canal treatment and have been 100% happy with it. Saying that I have had 4 impacted wisdom teeth removed and a replant done at the same time and compared to that root treatment was a walk in the park!

[Kit]

It won't be 100% trouble-free - the nerve is destroyed, which affects the tooth itself. Not only does the tooth go slightly grey, but it is more prone to damage. It will probably need crowning eventually (but having had that done recently on a 20 year old root canal, it's a piece of cake.)

[sddsddean]

I've had 2 root canals done. The 1st took about 1 week to settle down, was fine for about 6 months and now I get a bit of sensitivity from it every 3 or 4 days. The 2nd ached for 2 weeks. I went on a course of antibiotics and it seemed to get better. About 2 months later it hurt like hell and I went back. My Dentist said all he could do was take it out, but that it sometimes takes 2 or 3 years for a root canal to settle! Currently this one is OK, but my first one is giving me bit of (bearable) pain. My advice is, don't expect everything to be hunky dory, but hope that it is.

[Fitzer]

Trudi, I don't want to rain on your parade but I have just been to a specialist root canal guy as my dentist on examining x-rays of my teeth said 'someone has attempted root canal work on two molars at some point'. The specialist showed me that the original work had not cleared all of the nerve and the canal had only been half to three quarters filled in both of the teeth. So basically I'm going to have to have them done again at greater expense and less chance of a positive outcome! Make sure you get to see the 'after' x-rays and check that the canals have been filled to the very tips of the roots.