Root Canal

[Pete53]

Jan:

Its weird yesterday it was feeling much better just a little tender and I woke up this AM and it was hurting. I dod not take a Vicodan yesterday so I took my antiobiotics and half of one and now I feel a lot better

Thanks for asking.

[Berta]

Gee -a different tooth-I sure hope you feel better Pete-

My dentist is a woman-with a good sense of humor.

She started talking to me once about giving me 2 implants. I said 'sure-Doctor-I didnt know you altered breasts too!"

Of course she meant teeth implants-then I said NO WAY!

But now I think- it could not be any worse than anything else dentists have done to me.

[Cavman]

Pete:

I had a root canal a few weeks ago and he gave me antibiotics to take after (3 a day). I took 1 a day for a few days and quit. All of a sudden it hurt big time so much so I couldn`t put any pressure on it. I called and they told me it was the tooth next to it. I got another antibiotic refill and took them and it quit. It is either the tooth next to it or infection.

Cavman

[Josh]

Wow Pete.. sorry I did not see this earlier.

One possible solution is to take Prep-H and spread some on the hurting area of the gum (No joke here). It may work but is not a solution for the problem only a temp fix until the dentist. Take those and more antibiotics.

Josh

Friday at 1 PM I had a root canal at Dallas VA. I took antibiotics an hour before the procedure. When we were wrapping up I asked if I would need anything for pain Doc said no but I could take ibuprofen if it hurt. Well at 3 AM Saturday it started to be uncomfortable and by today I am absolutely miserable. Even after digging up a codine that Mrs Pete had extra I am still hurting pretty bad.

This does not seem right there should not be that much pain. Of course what can I do but wait and see what it is like tomorrow. Anyone have any thoughts on root canals?

I would be obliged.

PS I am like a lot of old guys in that I usually can suffer quite a bit before I will even tell someone.

[Chuck75]

Having had several root canals over the years, I can say--

When the "bad tooth" is opened by drilling to the nerve, immediate relief of pain is normal. The area is inside the tooth is then cleaned out with bleach. If the drill went beyond the tooth nerve into the surrounding flesh, the bleach will burn some. If the gum below the tooth was opened (an alternate method) you will likely experience quite noticable pain for several days, and may have drainage as well.

It's quite possible that the infection had already spread to the adjacent tooth befor the root canal was done.

Usually, antibiotics will stop the infection, but it may take two to three times the period normally used for infection treatment with an antibiotic.

Figure about 10-14 days using amoxicillin to be safe. Five days is the norm for the usual infection. I'm suprized that you were not given a script for codine if needed.

The older method used to do a root canal was better than the current methods in my opinion. The tooth was treated with a palative stick in the tooth canal, and a temporary seal was used for a few days. The tooth was reopened, the canal cleaned out if needed, the pallative stick was either left in place or replaced, and a permenent filling was used. Now they use a rubber plug under the filling.

These days, the general dentists want to send a patient to a specialist, and get at least payment for two visits (one before, one after plus whatever you pay the specialist. The total cost is about $500-600 per tooth.

On the average, dental insurance pays about half.

My old

Friday at 1 PM I had a root canal at Dallas VA. I took antibiotics an hour before the procedure. When we were wrapping up I asked if I would need anything for pain Doc said no but I could take ibuprofen if it hurt. Well at 3 AM Saturday it started to be uncomfortable and by today I am absolutely miserable. Even after digging up a codine that Mrs Pete had extra I am still hurting pretty bad.

This does not seem right there should not be that much pain. Of course what can I do but wait and see what it is like tomorrow. Anyone have any thoughts on root canals?

I would be obliged.

PS I am like a lot of old guys in that I usually can suffer quite a bit before I will even tell someone.

[john999]

Pete

It sounds like you have an infection. Sometimes the infection spreads into the gum through the root. I had that problem with a tooth that already had a root canal. It just started to bleed. If it is bad the solution is to pull the tooth and do an implant. It may just be that the gum is slightly infected and that with the anti-biotic it will be ok. Can you call the dentist and go in for emergency. I did it when my tooth went bad after the VA dentist filled a tooth. The next day it began to hurt and he got me in and did a root canal and it stopped hurting. Is your gum bleeding? That would be a sign of infection along with swelling and pain. If the dentist drilled through the root and material is leaking into your gum that would cause the infection I think. Really, the root canal is not supposed to do anything but clean out the nerve from the tooth and seal it. There must be some infection in your gum below the tooth which is making it hurt.

John King