One of the most common concerns of any person who is to undergo root canal treatment is "does a root canal hurt"? The answer is yes, it does but the pain occurs more during the recovery stage. However, if you go to a good endodontist, the pain can be negligible.
Root canal treatment, contrary to common perception, is not as excruciatingly painful because patients are anesthetized during the treatment. However, the recovery period and the time after which the anesthetic wears off can be painful. Gone are the days when patients were heard screaming inside a dentist's office and the sound of drills and machines terrorized the people waiting for their chance to get treated. Also gone are the days when the date of visiting a dentist's clinic was marked in red. With advancement in dental technology, new and more advanced procedures have been formulated which are not very painful. In fact, the real trouble with root canal treatment nowadays is not the pain - it is the discomfort and boredom of having to sit with your mouth open throughout the procedure. So, does it hurt? Read on below to know more.
Why does a root canal hurt?
A root canal hurts because the insides of a tooth, which are sensitive to pain, are cleansed. The sensory nerve that is located at the base of the tooth is removed in the treatment and this can be painful - only if you are allowed to feel the pain. Modern medicine works with safe anesthesia, which numbs the area that has to be worked on. So, your answer to the query "does a root canal hurt" is yes, but the pain is very much bearable and can be controlled with medication.
In the present times, the sessions required for a complete treatment have reduced. In most cases, one or two sessions take care of all root canal problems. So, you do not have to undergo the pain over and over again.
When does a root canal hurt?
In some cases, however, the procedure might have to be performed without anesthesia and these can be excruciatingly painful. One of the best examples for such a situation is performing root canal on a drug addict or an alcoholic. These people have a very high level of toxins in their body, along with high tolerance for anesthetics. Also, heart patients are not given anesthesia since the drug can affect the heart. Barring a few such exceptions where numbing injections cannot be administered, all other people undergo the procedure under local anesthesia. Even after the effect of anesthesia wears off, dentists prescribe pain killer medication and antibiotics, which prevent the patient from feeling too much pain.
Choice of doctor matters
Another factor that influences the answer to the question "does a root canal hurt" is the choice of the doctor. Endodontists who are used to performing such procedures regularly can do the job delicately and not cause much pain either when injecting anesthesia into the gum or during the procedure itself.
If you have undergone treatment and have no relief from pain, you need to consult the doctor immediately. The pain usually subsides in a couple of days. Continued pain even after the procedure either signifies that there is some left over infection in the tooth or there is a problem in the way the treatment was administered.
Get more information on does a root canal hurt or not from our website on root canal.
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