"It was a necessary procedure that has saved my tooth and mouth from further problems."
How I did it: A few months ago, one of my molars (which has had a filling for decades) started being extremely sensitive to cold and sweetness (like ice cream). My short term solution involved keeping any cold sweet substances (like ice cream) away from that tooth. My regular dentist refilled the cavity, but that didn't help, so my dentist sent me to an endodontist.
I had the root canal procedure this past Friday. I was in the chair for over an hour. I had four canals in this particular tooth so the endodontist had to clean each one.
I'm not done with the entire process, because I have to get a crown on this tooth next week. But the root canal part is over. And now I know what people mean when they say, "I'd rather have a root canal than [insert unpleasant task]."
Lessons & tips: There are two things that were uncomfortable:
- The rubber dam: This is a covering over your mouth with a place to have just the affected tooth exposed. At first I had a little panicky "I can't breathe" moment until I remembered that I do have a functioning nose for that vital activity and it was not covered.
- The cleaning of the canals of the tooth involves manual scrubbing. My jaw was aching as I kept my mouth open for as long as I did while the endodontist used various instruments to physically clean the tooth down into the jaw.
Resources:
- During the procedure I felt my back and shoulders continually tensing up, so I kept telling myself to relax those muscles so I wouldn't have that tension spread to my neck and jaw. Instead, I focused on alternatively tensing and stretching my leg muscles as a distraction and to have the blood flow throughout my body (I'm not used to sitting still for so long!).
- Afterwards, I immediately went to the pharmacist and filled the prescription for the anti-inflammatory/pain reliever. I'm a good patient. I took the Rx at the exact intervals with food as directed.
- That afternoon I ate cold creamy foods (yogurt, a protein shake, applesauce) so that I wouldn't bite on that affected tooth and potentially compromise its temporary covering.
- I kept ice chips in my mouth next to the affected tooth for several hours afterwards. I think this also helped with the recovery. Luckily I have had no pain in my tooth, my jaw, or my shoulders since the procedure.
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Aug 22, 2010, 05:07AM PDT
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