Root Canal Therapy or Extraction

I think that the dentist will give you a course of antibiotics before doing anything. Once the abscess goes down it will stop hurting.

The painkiller injections that dentists use these days will ensure you feel no pain while it is being done, and I would always do whatever I could to preserve my own teeth.
I had root canal done about 20 years ago and that tooth is still going strong. Be brave!

There are few things worse than toothache, but if you don't go to the dentist and take his/her advice about treatment, it will only get more excruciating! I've had more root canals done than I can remember but was grateful for the relief they brought every time.

I had the option, nearly thirty years ago of having a very painful back molar either taken out or root canalled. At that time I heard so many horror stories about root canals that I told the dentist to take it out. I am grateful that he persuaded me to do otherwise. I still have the tooth and it is sound. He was a very good dentist and I suffered very little discomfort from what was a lengthy procedure, and I'm sure dental anaesthesia has moved on apace since then! Don't lose the tooth if you don't have to.

Keep the tooth. Root canal is no big deal..good local anaesthetic with a good dentist. Sooner you start antibiotic the better. In the meantime try padding the tooth with cotton wool ball soaked in oil of cloves. That worked for me....Also swilling with icy cold water....although that might work the other way for some.

Same here. Heard horror stories about root canal treatment and it was all unfounded [other than the fact that it cost a lot]. The only inconvenience was having to sit still for such a long time. I went to a highly recommended private dentist for the filling but it was finished off by my NHS dentist which saved me quite a lot of money.

We do seem to get a number of dental enquiries from younger people - I wonder if sayings like Old in the tooth and Long in the tooth somehow get mixed-up in Google searches for a dentist?

Root canal filling is painless. Mine did not hurt one jot. It was just rather boring siting there.

Gransnet is turning into a dental advice service for the teenage population!

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Reported!

Poor you Cari, off to have two teeth out on Friday [eeek! emoticon]
You deserve a big bunch of

That doesn't sound much fun Cari, especially over the Christmas break. As for the OP, go for the root canal option. I've had 3 in recent years and I'm relieved to have my own teeth. Both my grandmothers had false teeth by the time they were 40 - treatments now are good, and improving all the time.

I am the biggest coward in the world but have survived two root canal treatments. It wasn't really painful just uncomfortable.