It sounds scary when your dentist say that you need a root canal. Your friends might tell you that it will be stressful time for you. Although, is it true that root canal is a painful procedure?
The root canal procedure is not painful at all. It is usually done with use of local anaesthesia so the area which your dentist is working on, is completely numb and you shouldn’t feel any pain. This procedure will last from one to two hours normally and anaesthesia is very efficient in blocking pain. Your dentist will inject just enough for you to be at rest the entire time and a little bit after the procedure. Root canal can be as comfortable as doing feelings.
However, people often associate it with pain. Why can that be? There are couple reasons for that. Anaesthesia wasn’t always numbing pain as it is today. Years ago it wasn’t working that well and people could feel the pain. Another reason is that the tooth which needs a procedure, has a really painful abscess even before the procedure was done so people associate it with pain, even though the treatment was done with anaesthesia and no pain was felt.
If a tooth is abscessed, the treatment might be done in some days or even weeks and anesthesia might not work properly. That’s why your dentist will prescribe you antibiotics first and then you will have your root canal treatment some other day.
It is ok if you will still feel a little bit of pain after the procedure was done. It might last from couple days to a few weeks. The patient will probably be advised to take some painkillers to feel as comfortable as possible.
If the root canal procedure was done properly but you still feel the pain, it means that there might be another problem. The tooth could be cracked or there are hidden canals in the root which your dentist didn’t notice.
