Tooth Extraction or Root Canal?

Hi guys
 
i had been suffering from mild toothache for a couple of day, but after my friday evening workout, i got home and that night i had the worst headache ever (right in the left temple) - i literally couldnt sleep that night and went to the dentist the next mornin and was told i had an infection (tooth had already been filled) and was put on antibiotics - the pain was horrendous all weekend. today the pain in my head isnt as bad, but my jaw is a bit swollen. I went back to the dentist and was given a choice - root canal or extraction. The tooth is bottom left (second from the back), so wont really be visable if i get it taken out.
 
Initially, because of the £150+ cost difference i opted for extraction, but what would you go for? it is booked in for thursday afternoon. Also (generally) how soon would you go back to the gym after the extraction (i know if can vary depending on the removal itself?
 
It hasnt been ideal, i was just getting back into the gym after xmas and a bout of flu, and my diet has been all over the place since friday night.

my mate has just had root canal treatment. He says he would rather (to quote James here!) Iron his penis than have any more of it! Which is a shame as he is booked in to have a second batch in the same tooth next week! He has started the process so is going to finish it.
 
IMO the last option would be tooth extraction, you really dont want to be removing teeth without a very good reason... however I dont think I fancy the rootytooty much as an alternative.
 
This probably hasnt been that much help, so sorry and good luck!

I've had 2 of my bottom teeth out, both of them are 2 from the back. It's definitely not noticable and I havent even noticed any difference without them.
 
I think I trained the day I had the last one out. It was just numb for a few hours and a bit sore after. I find it quite traumatic having teeth out.

I have had five root canals, and cant see what your worried about. No different to a conventional filling just takes longer.

Save the tooth wherever possible. Root canals are really not that bad, you will have local anaesthetic so is not that much different to a filling. I know there is a price difference, but you cannot put a price on the value of your own teeth!!

I wasn't really worried, i was just wanting peoples opinions as to what the best option would be
 
Pros
Root canal - save tooth
Cons - 4 x the price, apparently (accoridng to my dentist) 1 in 5 don't cure the problem.
 
cheers for your responses, seems the majority would go the root canal way, im still undecided

No no no, be worried!!! 
 
No offence to anyone who posted that root canal was ok but when I had it done it was horrific! Maybe mine was botched and the aneastetic (sp) didn't work but I was in serious pain. I was writhing about in the chair with tears and snot everywhere. 
 
Just have the tooth removed. Sorry if the above scares you but I'd hate you to have a similar experience to me!

PAGAN


No no no, be worried!!! 

No offence to anyone who posted that root canal was ok but when I had it done it was horrific! Maybe mine was botched and the aneastetic (sp) didn't work but I was in serious pain. I was writhing about in the chair with tears and snot everywhere. 

Just have the tooth removed. Sorry if the above scares you but I'd hate you to have a similar experience to me!

 
I had the same experience as above ^^ as well as the tooth eventually falling to bits and needing capped at the cost of £300, which I decided against an had the tooth removed!  Wish I had just had it yanked out in the first place!!!

I have had the same choice offered and had it pulled out. 
 
 

I had two root canals done over the last ten years. One hurt like hell, the other one was smooth - so hard to tell what it will be like. 
 
Potential problem with extraction is that a missing tooth can affect the opposing tooth in the long run if it has nothing to bite against. 
 
 

No offence to anyone who posted that root canal was ok but when I had it done it was horrific!

 
My daughter is a dental nurse pagan and she has said you should change your dentist mate. If you felt pain there was not enough anaesthetic, no question. The amount of trauma involved in extraction is a lot worse than root canal (her words not mine)

dementia

No offence to anyone who posted that root canal was ok but when I had it done it was horrific!

My daughter is a dental nurse pagan and she has said you should change your dentist mate. If you felt pain there was not enough anasthetic, no question. The amount of trauma involved in extraction is a lot worse than root canal (her words not mine)

 
Your daughter's right - Ive had several root canals and several extractions (Ive got sh1t teeth....) some done well and some done badly.
 
Both proceedures are VERY unpleasant if done badly - if done well then a root canal is no worse than an extraction, possibly rather better with the big teeth at the back (which can be a real b*stard to get out and can leave your neck and jaw feeling pretty battered about however much anaesthetic they get into the tooth intself)

mate says he his was like torture, had so many jags it was unreal so plenty of anaesthetic used. when the pain was still there the dentist actually used a little dropper to put drops of anaesthetic into the hole she had drilled to take some of the pain away. he said this was initially like dropping freezing cold fluid onto the exposed nerve (hell) before it took effect.
 
interesting that some people get on fine with it though! 

i had the option and i was then asking them which pliers would be best used....
 
sod root canal...

Root canal every time. Removing a tooth should be an absolute last resort.
 
Jess works in dentistry, so I am pretty aware of the long term issues that come from tooth removal. Short term - yeah, great, tooth/pain is gone, all is dandy. Long term it weakens the neighbouring teeth/increases their likelihood to rot, causes mobility issues in opposite teeth, and also your jaw bone weakens.
 
Heard some real horror stories over the years....
 
So just for the sake of repetition, root canal every time. Removing a tooth should be an absolute last resort.
 

I've had 5 root canal jobs done, (3 times on the same tooth!!) and have never felt it was painful. I've had 2 extractions - one was a simple one done in the surgery with local and one was a bit more complicated and I insisted on IV sedation, done at the dental hospital (was fine though). Yeh I have crap teeth!  Almost daily I think about my teeth and how I want them 'sorted out' - would be thousands of pounds though

Funnily this has reminded me I need to book an appointment, lol!

Remove the tooth unless you can afford the root canal treatment.
 
A fairly small, slight female dentist removed my tooth (bottom row, 2nd from the back) and it was a bugger to get out. She couldn't do it with the tooth whole so had the cut it into pieces and that still didn't work too well. She ended up using one arm to brace herself on my should while the other twisted, yanked and tried to prise the tooth out.
 
At one point she had to stop to mop her brow she was exerting herself so much
 
When she finished the silver tray looked like a scene from Hostel with all these shiny dentist tools covered in blood and bits of tooth all over the place.
 
Didn't hurt at all during - hurt like a bugger after though. Go on, go for it. It'll be great...

I have never had a root canal. I have had 4 tooth extractions and 2 fillings. The two teeth i had taken out at the dentist went fine. He got one of my molers out in about 15 seconds. He is about 6'3 and huge polish guy though lol.
 
The other two were taken out by an oral surgen. One was an impacted wisdom tooth and the other had been destroyed by the wisdom tooth. The non wisdom took about 10 mins to get out because it was laying on an important nerve in the jaw. The wisdom tooth took about 45 mins. H ehad to keep drilling and pulling and pulling. I thought my jaw was going to snap lol. He used loads of numbing agent. I couldnt blink on one side lol. No pain at all while doing it, swelled to a golf ball and brused the next day thouhg.
 
If you can save the teeth I would. I hate having gaps. It hurts to eat and it's harder!

Tony Barnes


Root canal every time. Removing a tooth should be an absolute last resort. This is true

Jess works in dentistry, so I am pretty aware of the long term issues that come from tooth removal. Short term - yeah, great, tooth/pain is gone, all is dandy. Long term it weakens the neighbouring teeth/increases their likelihood to rot Not true, if fact by removing a decayed tooth it is easy to clean the remaining teeth , causes mobility issues in opposite teeth (again not the case , the teeth do not become  mobile but opposing teeth can over-erupt  , and also your jaw bone weakens. by losing the tooth and the ligaments there is some bone loss but it does not weaken the bone

Heard some real horror stories over the years....

So just for the sake of repetition, root canal every time. Removing a tooth should be an absolute last resort.