For those who are familiar with a root canal, either through experience or through hearsay, would automatically think that having a root canal is probably one of the most painful procedures that a person could go through.

In a way, a root canal is painful but not intolerable, especially if you have a compassioante dentist by your side. I’ve been having terrible (!!!) toothaches for a few days now and I couldn’t pinpoint exactly which tooth was the root cause (so to speak). I went to my dentist today (August 2) and told her about my toothache, which wouldn’t go away even when I took 500Mg of Mefenamic acid TWICE already…it was that bad.

She ordered an X-ray and it turned out that my tooth on my upper left jaw had a recurring abcess and that they would have to perform IT. I had a feeling I would require IT and there was no turning back now…I was willing to undergo a ROOT CANAL…for heaven’s sake, rather than spend another night tossing and turning, hoping the pain would go away.

They prepped me by putting a topical anesthetic and then local anesthetics as well. I knew that they would be killing the nerve of my tooth but I was scared since it was my first root canal after all. Later I found out that they would be killing not only one, but three of my nerves. In addition, this was just my first visit out of three so I have two more sessions to look forward to (Hurray…not!)

This session lasted for around an hour and it was spent drilling around the unhealthy tooth and killing the nerve by using a needle-like drill. She did compliment me by saying that my canals were perfectly formed (Gee, thanks). They covered up the cavity with a filling and was told to come back again for more torture… I mean treatment. Like I said, having a compassionate dentist is the key to having a smooth procedure such as this one and I received no less than three anesthesia shots during the whole root canal process.

I read some more about root canal procedures and they all reassure the reader that a root canal (or endodontic) treatment is relatively painless…only they fail to mention that the dentist will be handling your raw tooth nerves and that can get a bit tricky.

Overall, I’m just grateful that the dentist figured out the root cause of my toothache and that I can get a full night’s sleep without pain. By the way, to check if you need endodontic treatment, check out these symptoms:

• Pain
• Prolonged sensitivity to heat or cold
• Tenderness to touch and chewing
• Discoloration of the tooth
• Swelling, drainage and tenderness in the lymph nodes as well as nearby bone and gingival tissues.

Note: Sometimes, however, there are no symptoms.

Illustration of a root canal procedure (a. unhealthy tooth; b. drilling; c. filling; d. rubber filling and crown)