Last week I had root canals done on my front teeth. The dentist started an opening on all four. She was only able to remove 2 of the roots. The pain was so bad, I just couldn't take it anymore and I started to cry. I have a pretty high pain tolerance. She wanted to continue and told me that I was having this pain because I was nervous. And if I wasn't nervous I would not feel pain. She also asked me if I had any alcohol the night before. Which I did , one sip of my boyfriends margarita and that's it. I really wasn't nervous until I experienced the horrible pain in my nerves. I asked her if she could numb me more with shots. She tried again , I could not go on anymore. Now, I have temporary white fillings on all four. I am too scared to go back to her because I feel like she is not very experienced. I have had extractions done by another dentist and I was awake and didn't feel anything. So how come I felt so much pain during this? My question is have any other dentist heard of this kind of thing happening before? Could it be an infection or is she not experienced enough on root canal treatments. I didn't have any pain or abscess from these teeth. She also broke more of my tooth which is extremely noticeable now. I decided not to go back to her and scheduled another appointment with someone else. I am concerned about how fragile my teeth are now, because they can fracture easily . Any opinions or advice would be appreciated.
Unbearable pain during a root canal procedure.
- Thread starter misty1
- Start date
That is not normal at all. The procedure can be uncomfortable but should be pain free if the anaesthesia is correctly done. Particularly unprofessional to ask you whether you had been drinking the night before and to tell you that it's because of nerves. If you are in pain it is never your fault! You should book a visit with an endodontist. It may be worth having one tooth at a time done.
Thank you for your reply. That is what I thought. She kept telling me to relax and if I could relax then I would not feel the pain. I didn't know that she was going to do all four that day until after she had drilled holes in my teeth.
To not tell you what she is going to do in advance is extremely unprofessional. It's not something that should happen in this day and age. The guidance to dentists by Jennifer de St. Georges is "inform before you perform - no surprises".
The dentist office tells me that I have to wait another month for an appointment. I also told the office that I wasn't going to have her finish my root canals because of the pain. The receptionist told me that I just needed to relax. She also broke my tooth and apologized during the procedure. I did not know what happened until I got home. It is very noticeable. I need to have crowns on these immediately. The look worse now, then they did before.
What does the receptionist know about the pain you were feeling? She didn't experience it. Honestly this sounds like you are being fobbed off because telling you to relax is just ridiculous. You should go to a different dentist who knows what they are doing. This lot are not taking you seriously. I would complain or seek legal redress.
MattKW
Verified Dentist
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Go to another dentist or get referral to an endodontist. Ask for copies of records and Xrays from the 1st dentist to save time and money. It is extremely rare not to be able to sufficiently numb upper teeth - it can be a problem in lower back teeth sometimes.
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Maybe it wasn't a dentist at all...I'm working with an Endodontic Dentist and I've never seen any patient feeling pain, and never heard that kind of things, even when the patient was very nervous they didn't felt anything. I'm very sorry that you have to go through that experience in this century, but there are really good and really bad professionals in health care too. We have to be careful and seek for references from others.
There are also regulatory frameworks where patient welfare is protected. I don't know which country you are in Misty but your posts make me wonder whether you really needed root treatment to start with. It's a pain to ask such a practice for x rays but you should be entitled to them and they should not object to emailing them to you. I'm really sorry you have gone through this. There are plenty of really good dentists out there who can help you and save your teeth.