To root canal or not to root canal?
If you do pull the tooth, you’ll still need either a bridge or an implant eventually, and and implant will probably be roughly equivalent to the root canal etc. I believe the bridge will be less up front, but you’ll have to replace it periodically and it can have an adverse effect on the neighbouring teeth.
My root canal (the result of a broken tooth) was not at all painful. Sidenote: The dentist performed the root canal without telling me until it was over. She explained, “I didn’t want to scare you.” Stupid kid that I was, I didn’t realize what an egregious breach of professional ethics and informed consent the dentist committed by not telling me.
I had a root canal . . .a year ago? About that anyway. The worst part was the dental dam, because I felt vaguely like I was suffocating. If they don’t have TVs there for you to watch, bring your iPod or whatever and have it set up where you don’t have to mess with it too much. You should have plenty of novacaine for this procedure. If they aren’t going to give you novacaine, take your business elsewhere. This sort of thing can be very painful if you are not properly taken care of — laughing gas will *not* be adequate, IMHO, because they are poking around in the nerve area of your tooth. They offered me percocet for the “pain” afterwards, but really, about four Advil and I was fine. I also used Peroxyl to rinse my mouth for a couple of weeks because it’s better for you than Listerine (it’s what you’re supposed to use to rinse when you’ve gotten an oral piercing) and I felt very plaque-y for a while for some reason. Keeping in mind of course, that I have a very decent tolerance for pain
Save the tooth! In today’s economy, even with dental insurance, $1000 is a bargain for a rootcanal, buildup, and a crown. An implant can be placed down the road if you do get it extracted, but what will happen over time is the lower opposing molar will start to rise from its socket, possibly necessitating its removal. Oh and replacing a tooth with an implant a few years from now, if you decide that later, will be at least $3000 per toothspace. I work for a dentist, a prosthodontic specialist. We see people everyday who’d love to pay $1000 to have been able to keep a tooth.
