Ok ladies - need some help. Dentist has told me that I need a root canal. I made the apointment for the root canal, but the dentist can't get me in for 3 weeks after that to get the crown put on. My brother said that he had a root canal and didn't get the crown on right away and the tooth cracked and he had to have it pulled anyway.

Anyone ever have a root canal. Am I going to be OK waiting so long in between?

Soooo, excited about this as it is!

Sorry, Sandi, but I had the same experience as your brother - waiting too long, got a cracked tooth and things got worse from there.

HOWEVER, I waited a YEAR, not 3 weeks!

I'm pretty sure 3 weeks is OK. But, don't open any CANS with your teeth or chew on rocks or anything like that. (My Dentist said to watch pretzels and other foods that might be a little hard).

Hope this helps,

Angi

My very evil dentist suggested once that I might need a root canal after he did a massively awlful job on filling my tooth. Needless to say, I almost punched him in the molar.

However, I did go to this website:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/root-canal.htm

My best defense is having as much knowledge as possible. It's a great site for the layman. I didn't have a root canal but I did feel better if I needed one.

Sandi, I recently had my first root canal. Now NOBODY is bigger dental coward than yours truly, but I have to tell ya--it was not AT ALL bad. The procedure has come a long way since the days of its bad reputation. I had the temporary crown put on 10 days later and the permanent crown 2 weeks after that. If your dentist offers nitrous oxide gas, go for it if you're anxious or frightened--the effects wear off almost immediately after quit inhaling it so don't worry about being groggy. I will say that the area where they do the root canal might be pretty sore for the first 12 hours or so after the novacaine wears off so ask for a pain prescription (which they'll probably give you anyway). Good luck and don't be scared!!!

Barb

I, thankfully, haven't had to have a root canal yet. But my husband has, & it wasn't really that bad for him. I don't remember for sure, but I think it was at least 2 weeks before he had his crown put on, so I'm sure 3 weeks would be fine. Like others have said, be careful of hard food. And if you are worried about the 3 weeks, as the dentist what he thinks.

I've had root canal and while I remember it being pretty nasty at the time it didn't last more than a day or 2.

I've never had a crown put on and that was well over a year ago. Maybe yours is worse than mine, the dentist didn't say I needed one right away, just recommended one at some point. So far I've had no problems with it.

Thanks everyone. I "get" to have the root canal tomorrow. Can hardly wait!!