I went into the dentist on Friday and they told me I needed a "deep cleaning" (which is getting done tomorrow) and a root canal.


Can anyone tell me what a deep cleaning is and what is going to happen, how much it is going to hurt, etcetera?

Also, How long does a root canal hurt after the actual prcedure.. I got my tooth drilled into on friday, they're filling it tomorrow, and I'm getting the rest of the root canal when the infection is finished with. But what is going to happen? will it hurt?!

please help!

Hi,
Don't worry about the root canal at all! The worst thing about it is how long it takes and the price :) I just had a deep cleaning, but they did it over the course of 4 appointments. One quadrant per appointment. It's time consuming, but I didn't feel a thing during or after the procedure. Make sure they numb you up, and use nitrous if you're really anxious. I'm a HUGE dental phobic and was scared to death, but I was very pleasantly surprised. The difference in my teeth and gums is AMAZING. Good luck!
Peace,
Susan

I too was alittle nervous about the deep cleaning, they used a numbing gel, works great did not feel a thing, and afterwards I didn't have any problems.The root canal they will give you novicane, the only problem with that is sitting in the chair for a long time with your mouth open. Also after wards you may need pain meds. My root canal was not your "text book" procedure, hopefully yours will be.

[QUOTE=plc;3522513]I too was alittle nervous about the deep cleaning, they used a numbing gel, works great did not feel a thing, and afterwards I didn't have any problems.The root canal they will give you novicane, the only problem with that is sitting in the chair for a long time with your mouth open. Also after wards you may need pain meds. My root canal was not your "text book" procedure, hopefully yours will be.

I posted this in another thread, but I'll post it here too. Just for the record, it's 12 hours later and I've had NO pain or trouble.

I guess I spoke too soon...I had the root canal from hell. I was in the dentists chair from 8:00 until 12:40. Lord have mercy...leave it to me to have "the most difficult" root canal he'd ever seen. When I thought we were almost done the dentist tells me that there's an "obstruction" in the last canal. They tried for almost 30 minutes to get it out, but no luck. Well, the obstruction was a piece of the file that had broken off. Lucky me! To make a long story, and I do mean lllooonnnggg, we left the piece in there and sealed the darn thing up! He assured me that there was almost no chance that I'd have any problem as the canal was thoroughly cleaned prior to the piece breaking off. Well, that wasn't good enough for me so I started researching and called an Endodontist! Here's what I found online:

"A file may break. The tip of a file may break off inside the tooth. Usually, it's possible to leave the piece in the tooth and finish the root canal. But if the cleaning of the canal has not been finished, the file piece may have to be removed. Sometimes this can be done from the top of the tooth. However, in some cases, the file can only be removed through a surgical procedure called an apicoectomy. A small incision is made in the gum to access the root of the tooth, and the portion of the root containing the file piece is removed."

Lesson learned! All root canals are different, but at least I had no pain! Hopefully yours will be less time consuming than mine :)
Peace,
Susan