Due to poor life choices, I’ve had six.

I had a really good dentist and none of them were a big deal in terms of pain or discomfort. Just boring sitting there for long periods waiting for it to be done. I closed my eyes and meditated into a half doze. Good luck!

Don’t worry. I’ve had a lot of work done on my front teeth due to an accident when I was a child. Eventually needed root canals on both.

Honestly those root canals weren’t even as bad as cavity fillings.

Most painful part, as others have said, will be the numbing injections. If you still feel pain, let them know and they’ll give you more (different people have different levels).

Make sure to ask for a bite block so you don’t have to hold your mouth open, that’ll help a lot.

They might even let you listen to music, audiobook, or podcast, depending on your dentist.

Here’s what you’ll experience:

They’ll put you in the chair, and they’ll use a q-tip to apply some local anesthetic to your gums. They’ll give that a bit to kick in, then they’ll inject your gums with a tiny little hypodermic needle to really numb them. This is the only part that hurts. I find if I grip the arm of my chair and focus on that, I get through it easier.

They’ll likely do 2-3 injections around the area, depending on the tooth and where the nerves are located. But the first is the worst, because the numbing agent will start to take effect for the others. Also your body is gonna flood with endorphins because of the pain, so the injections following the first won’t be nearly as bad. Then the dentist will probably leave the room for a few minutes while they let that kick in. If the assistant is there, strike up a conversation! In my experience, the relief that the injections are done, along with the aforementioned flood of endorphins, almost feels like a mild high.

The dentist will come back and ask how you’re doing. Your lip will feel huge right now (though it isn’t, it’s just the way the nerves interpret not being able to feel what’s going on).

Here, if they haven’t given you one yet, ask for a bite block. Seriously, it makes the process so much easier.

They’ll start working by drying the area with some air. Then they’ll probably begin drilling. If you feel any pain at all, let them know. They’ll be looking for it, and may even ask you. I’ve only ever had to get an additional injection once or twice. By this point, the injection won’t really hurt because the area is so numb.

When they’ve drilled in they’ll begin using tools to clean out the inside of the tooth, clearing as much of the infected tissue as possible and removing the nerve. The work and the drilling all feel kind of weird, because the area is numb but you can still sense pressure in other parts of your mouth. You can also hear it, unless you choose the music route. I actually find this kind of fascinating.

Once they’ve cleaned the area, they’ll put in what’s called gutta percha, which they use to plug up the canal. This will feel funny, you’ll definitely feel the pressure. It won’t hurt though.

Then they’ll plug the hole with some bonding material or cement or something. This will probably be UV cured.

And then you’ll be done! Unless you’re having the whole tooth replaced with a crown. In that case, they’ll have made a mold beforehand for a temporary and permanent crown. They’ll drill away more of the tooth and put a post in to hold the crown in place. Then they’ll put the temporary crown on while they send the mold out to make a proper one.

Then you get to go home. Take a sick day if you get them, not because you need it but because it’s a good excuse and your co-workers will all feel sorry for you. 🤣

Don’t fret! You’re gonna do great. If you have any questions or concerns don’t hesitate to ask!

I’ve had one. The only pain I felt was the needle prick for the anaesthetic and then later sore jaws from having to hold them open for an hour.

I agree with the other comment - root canals aren’t as terrifying as years ago. I had 2 done in the past year and the edodontist was so skilled that I didn’t even feel the anesthesia injection. The entire procedure after that was painless, and there’s literally no pain to deal with afterwards because the nerve is gone. Compare that to when I was a kid in the 90s and it was excruciating.

I’m late to the thread, but just wanted to reiterate what others have said. The “pinch” of the anesthetic injection was probably the worst pain. The process was relatively quick, especially if they’re only doing one tooth. Heck, the real pain was covering the costs that my insurance didn’t cover. :)

My guy did have me use a bite block to hold my mouth open. Very handy, definitely made it easier. When the process was all said and done, my jaw was a bit sore from being in that position for that long. But that past very quickly.

Be sure to communicate with your dentist and be honest. Before, after, and during the procedure. You’re the patient here, and they need to listen to you especially as it pertains to what you’re feeling. If you’re still feeling anxious (and who could blame you), you might ask to have one of those heavy xray blankets. It acts like a “weighted blanket” and can really help with some of those nerves.

I have a long involved horror story that led up to me needing a root canal that I decided not to post here because it probably isnt nteresting to anybody but me.

For the most part, a root canal is kind of minor. They numb your gums where they’re going to inject a numbing agent, then they inject a numbing agent, worst case they go a little nutso and try to inject a few places in there but the pain is there and gone in 5 seconds. If at any point you feel pain they can do a better job of numbing you. Honestly, any pain caused in the numbing process goes away pretty quickly when they successfully do it.

They poke around, there’s a little drilling, some bad smell maybe heat maybe cold a lot of spitting out little sandy chunks of debris. If the tooth is still in pretty good shape they just pack it back up and you’re good to go.

If you end up needing a crown there’s a good bit more drilling a good bit more spitting a good bit more smoke. But it’s really just the same thing prolonged.

It won’t kill you, it will annoy you and it’s marginally unpleasant, The anxiety of being there in the anxiety of not knowing what’s going on is much worse than the actual procedure. Meditate, chill, roll with it you’ll be fine.

I’ve had several, performed by good dentists. By far the worst part is administering the anesthesia. Second to that is the long boring wait in the dentist’s chair.

I’ve had several, due to childhood trauma making me not take care of my teeth.

It’s a lot better these days. They numb, and if I say it still hurts, they get more novacaine into the tooth. They also listen when I say I need more than typical because of genetics.

Also my primary doctor gives me xanax. It helps.

For me it’s three visits for each root canal. First is the drilling, second is the temp plastic cap, third is the permanent cap. Third is very quick cause is just putting it in basically.

I had a double root canal a few months ago, no anesthesia, and literally couldn’t feel anything. The nerves on both teeth were already completely dead, there was simply no sensation at all.

I had the root canal done without an anesthesia, because I did not want a needle sticking into my gum.

It was tolerable, I did not cry or anything like. The nerve was mostly dead anyway.

The dentist took his sweet time removing the nerve piece by piece with a probe, instead of just drilling the whole tooth through. It did not matter at the end anyway, because he filled the canal afterwards. And the molar has three roots, so he repeated that two more times.

I guess it depends on your pain tolerance.

Root canals used to be a lot worse than they are now, now it’s basically like getting a cavity filled. You just get a shot and don’t feel anything painful afterwards, although the drilling is loud and you can still feel pressure.

Depending on the office they may need to put in a temporary cap and wait for the actual cap to be made off site and mailed in to them, so you may have to wear the temporary for a week or so. It’s not uncommon for the temporary cap to fall out, don’t freak out if it does. You can put it back in or leave it out and just gently brush the hole normally (it won’t be painful).

If you have a strong fear of getting a shot in your mouth, you can ask the dentist to prescribe you anti-anxiety medication to take beforehand, but you’ll need someone to drive you to and from the appointment.

But honestly it should be a huge relief once it’s done, in terms of tooth pain. It will instantly be better once the numbing wears off.

I had one a couple of years ago. The worst part was the anesthetic injection but it was smooth sailing once it kicked in. No pain afterwards.

I had one done recently due to breaking a filling while eating a Jolly Rancher. The whole thing took maybe 2 hours.

The shot of novocaine to numb my jaw was the only pain, and even that wasn’t bad because the dentist used topical numbing before that. It was no different than getting a cavity filled.

My dentist has a cnc machine (CEREC) in the office to make the crown, so I didn’t need a temporary cap. Waiting for that to be milled was the longest part.

I had a bruise on my gums for a couple days from the shot and the retainer clamp, but it wasn’t even bad enough to stop me from eating.

Like everyone else, I agree that pain management can be pretty good these days. For me the experience was:

• dentist comes in, says hi, reviews what’s going to happen, asks if you have any questions; tell them if you feel nervous, it’s ok
• doctor puts a “local anesthesia” (something on a q-tip) to your gum, so the needle won’t hurt too much
• then the doctor injects the “real” anesthesia in the gum. (an assistant may do this part - it varies) Depending on how deep they need to put it, you may feel a bit of pain, but not too bad. Pinch your arm moderately hard, and imagine that happening in your gum, and that’s the most I’ve ever felt for a very deep injection for a removal. it lasts about 1 second. (some places might give you nitrous oxide for this part, but I’ve never had that.) They may give more than 1 injection, depending on the situation. From this point on you should feel no pain.
• doctor/assistant goes away for 10-15 minutes to let the anesthesia spread. your mouth starts to feel numb.
• the dentist comes back with an assistant, they get organized (figuring out what tools they need, etc) From this point on they’re mostly just drilling or doing whatever they need, and your job is just to move your head however they want and keep your mouth open and spit when they tell you. it’s a little boring, tbh, at one point I almost dozed off and made a bit of a snoring sound.
• it can be a little weird having saliva pool in your mouth. the assistant should be vacuuming it out regularly. if they’re not doing this often enough, let them know. It is also very very helpful if you can breathe through your nose. if you have a problem with this just let them know.

Good luck, let us know how it goes!

I heard the horror stories but from older generation. My root canal was easy.

They took xrays to view how deep the tooth went.

Froze area flattened a spot drilled in, and would stop and measure depth compared to xray and go again.

Dentist explained, too shallow and they would miss infected material, too deep and they could damage bone and nerve in jaw.

They cleaned it with a flexible metal tool, like I imagine as a tiny baby bottle brush, and a solution that smelled like bleach.

Filled it with a rod of material, and then did the regular filling type stuff on the hole.

Zero pain after, and abaolutely no after affects or pain.