Root Canal& Crown? Pain? Anyone w/ Past Experience?

The prep to do a root canal is the same pretty much to do a filling- only obviously it goes deeper into the tooth. You get the same kind of local anesthetic as you would for a regular filling. As long as you don't have an infection, like an abcess, at the time- a root canal isn't that bad. Crowns don't hurt at all, it's just a cover for the tooth. The doctor will remove the enamel from the tooth, and put on a temporary crown until the permanent crown is ready. Since the root canal will remove the nerves of the tooth, it won't have any feeling anymore and there won't be any pain after the local wears off if all goes well. When it's time to put on the permanent crown, the dentist pries off the temporary and cements the new crown in place. You are done and over with in less than 20 minutes and on your way again. I've had all my molars crowned, because I did not have enough enamel to cover them when they came in. They all had root canals done, and honestly, it never hurt beyond the shot for the local anesthetic. Compared to the shots for teeth in the front of the mouth, I found those to be a walk in the park actually. Anesthesia for front teeth, either top or bottom, now that's a different story all together. Those just flat hurt, no two ways about it. Incisors are not too bad, though. The worst part of a root canal is if one nerve gets missed, which doesn't usually happen truthfully. I suggest taking along the MP3 player, and chilling out to tunes. If things were too bad, the dentist wouldn't want to do two of them at the same time. The horror stories you hear are from folks with abcessed teeth, as a rule- and things are in a mess already. If you haven't got an infection, the root canal is no worse than a filling. Mine were all done in the office, the last time I had the crowns replaced was about 5 years ago. I had three done on each side, all at once- four visits to do top and bottom molars. I left the office and went out to dinner after the last visit just to celebrate the new and improved choppers. Good luck, dear- and don't go in dreading it. It will probably not be nearly as bad as you fear.

The root canals will be numbed using the same anesthetic that was used when you had your fillings done. The crowns that will be done later will not hurt because the teeth that will be ground down for the crowns will have had root canals. The nerves are gone and the teeth have no feeling. I'm sure you'll do great.

It hurt for me!!! First the dentist gave me two shots in my gums and then he put that cherry-flavored stuff in my mouth. I still felt everything especially since I have sensitive teeth but then again my mouth didn't go totally numb until I left his office.

Good luck.