All about Root Canal Treatment

I recently got root canal treatment performed on my upper second left molar tooth. Quite an experience. Though I might share it.

First when my tooth began to hurt more than normal (usually it would on having something cold/hot. I fact it ahd been years since I had chewed anything from that side of my mouth) I went to the dentist at my institute. The fellow administered anesthetic and performed cleaning of the canal and asked me to come back on the day after. That day it was completely ( well almost) painless. The second day, he wanted to fill it in. He did not give any anesthetic and started prodding the area with sticks and pins (felt/looked like that, not sure what). It hurt like hell. He was confused. Said that the x-ray showed roots are cleared, how come I was still getting pain was unexplainable to him. He asked me to come back after 10 days. I couldn't take the risk. It was terribly paining.

So I went to a super speciality dental clinic and met this really efficient dentist. Day 1 he made me open my mouth for 30 odd minutes and cleaned the roots and canals. Probably the first one had left parts of the canal uncleaned. Took X-rays. Gave me pain killers and asked me to come back after 3-4 days. I went back. There was hardly any pain. Second day took a long time. Had to keep my mouth wide open for some 90 minutes. That hurt, but the procedure didn't. Just a few times it hurt like pressure pain, not at all the sensitivity kind of pain which I was feeling before the root canal procedure. This day he didn't even give me anesthetic. The pressure pain kind of continued for some days. He asked me to keep taking painkillers for a couple of days. I did that for two days. Also I kept gurgling my mouth with lukewarm saline water for a few days very frequently. The pain because of the inflammation/tissue damage due to the procedure subsided within at max 4-5 days. Last week I got a temporary crown put in. To take measurements for the permanent crown and file the tooth, I had to keep my mouth open for 30 odd minutes again. I will go back next week to get the permanent crown fixed.




Trust me, the entire procedure is quite bearable, pain is minimal, if not nil. Just that the ordeal of keeping the mouth wide open is a little scary. But you can always talk to your dentist about it.

Good luck