I'm back from my $1,650 root canal.

[Nancy]

I opted for the tooth to be pulled over the root canal...there is no way I was shelling out $800.00 out of pocket for a root canal, when having it pulled was covered in full. It was a molar, it has been 2 years and I have no problems, no shifting of teeth and best of all no pain!

DH had a root canal about 6 weeks ago, my suggestion was to just pull it since it is a molar. he is now in so much pain again that he has to go back and have it looked at. I told him if they say to have another canal done to have them yank that sucker out, I am not forking over that much money again. I have not known one single person who has had good or lasting results from a root canal, but I do hear lots of complaints.

 

[mtblujeans]

Welcome to the club, my dear! It's nice to have you join us!!

 

[newholidayx2]

I go Thurs to have an impression made. The oral surgeon will be pulling out 2 teeth on the back upper right. I currently have a bridge on that side and a patial on the other. After the extraction they'll be making a new partial.
Years ago they tried giving me a root canal and I had them pull the tooth on the left instead. Id rather have false teeth than go through root canals!

 

[barkley]

is this root canal season or what? during december my brother, my mil and my best friends dad all ended up needing one or more. mil opted to endure the pain and hold off until after january 1st cuz she had used her max. benefits w/her insurance, brother went in but found out he had some funky deal with over calcification and had to have the thing packed with some type of meds to soften the root enuf to do the procedure, friends dad found out he needed over 20K in work (not "a dentist person" had'nt been in years and by the time the pain from the one tooth was bad enuf to force him to go his teeth were in terrible shape-no dental insurance so he went to some place just over the border in mexico to have it done, don't know how bright an idea that was but he was happy so long as the pain was gone ).

to the expectant moms-have to share: a good friend went to the dentist and did'nt give any thought to the fact she was at the tail end of weaning her child from breast feeding. the dentist used a mild pain med and novacane for the procedure, friend goes home, breast feeds the baby and does'nt give it a second thought. until the next day-she was commenting to her mom about how nice it was, coming home from the dentist feeling lousy the night before that for the first time her baby did'nt fuss when offered the bottle later in the night-in fact seemed not realy to be interested in eating much and had slept so soundly-"i realy think we are making progress mom!". then mom starts asking about how the dental appointment went, what the procedure was and friend suddenly realises what happened. the baby was fine, but oh the guilt she felt!

 

[lilostitch]

I hope I'm not jinxing myself, but the root canals I've had weren't that bad, no worse than having a filling IMO. Also, I never have had additional problems with the original root canals. I feel for those of you who had root canals, only to have to go back time and time again until you finally pull the tooth, ouch!

My complaint is dental insurance. I've never had dental insurance that is nearly as good as my medical insurance. I always have to pay so much more at the dentist

 

[laura001]

My DH has run into this problem 4 times, as a matter of fact he just had his fourth done yesterday! Each time, he has had to take it one step further, years down the road he had to have implants which cost another 4000-5000 per tooth. He has had 3 of those now. When this 4th tooth went he wanted to go straight to the implant and bypass the root canal (save us 2-3000), they wouldn't do it because the tooth isn't completely gone...what a pain, literally.

All I know is that it would be nicer to spend the money on a trip to WDW!!!!

 

[tink2020]

I hope I'm not jinxing myself, but the root canals I've had weren't that bad, no worse than having a filling IMO. Also, I never have had additional problems with the original root canals. I feel for those of you who had root canals, only to have to go back time and time again until you finally pull the tooth, ouch!

My complaint is dental insurance. I've never had dental insurance that is nearly as good as my medical insurance. I always have to pay so much more at the dentist

My thoughts exactly! I was pleasantly surprised at how simple and pretty much pain-free my root canals were.... I was terrified after hearing all the horror stories! We don't have dental insurance, though, so that's been a killer! 2 root canals down, and 1 more to go (next Tuesday and Friday - 2 parter).... then the bills come!

But for me, to be able to chew pain-free, and not go through hours of excrutiating pain when infection flares up.... for the first time in about a year and a half is worth ANY price!

 

[tink2020]

All I know is that it would be nicer to spend the money on a trip to WDW!!!!

But of course, I must add to my previous post, that this is ALWAYS going through my mind in that darn chair!

 

[tar heel]

Those of you who have had a tooth pulled and nothing put in the spot, please be really careful about shifting teeth. I had a molar pulled when I was 17 (stupid dentist didn't even mention a root canal, but that's another story). This was before implants and the dentist didn't mention doing a bridge. Within five years, you could clearly see on Xrays that the teeth were shifting. I had a bridge (cost of three crowns -yuck). The teeth did quit shifting, but there's permanent tenderness around the roots of one of them. That side of my mouth is never going to feel totally right. I so wish the space had been filled BEFORE the teeth started moving.

 

[lilostitch]

Those of you who have had a tooth pulled and nothing put in the spot, please be really careful about shifting teeth. I had a molar pulled when I was 17 (stupid dentist didn't even mention a root canal, but that's another story). This was before implants and the dentist didn't mention doing a bridge. Within five years, you could clearly see on Xrays that the teeth were shifting. I had a bridge (cost of three crowns -yuck). The teeth did quit shifting, but there's permanent tenderness around the roots of one of them. That side of my mouth is never going to feel totally right. I so wish the space had been filled BEFORE the teeth started moving.

What a bummer! I have heard of teeth shifting, but I didn't know until a few years ago that when you have a tooth pulled, the jaw bone there starts to recede, which can effect the teeth around that spot. Yikes!

It sort of explains the puckered mouth expression that people who have no teeth have though.

 

[Antonia]

Reading all of this is exactly why I'm considering getting dentures! A few years back I went to a bad dentist who removed some perfectly good fillings and replaced them with his own fillings - just so they would be his. He told me they had cracks, even told me I had 5 more with cracks and that's when I got suspicious and went to another dentist for a second opinion. Well, the teeth he refilled, have since broken off, etc. and they probably all 4 need to be crowned and I just don't think I can afford it. I already have two crowns. None of my teeth hurt, but one is literally cracked in the very back. Anyone ever just get dentures?