Sorry, I avoided as much as I could even otc drugs. An ice pack did just as well🙂
I had success with a root canal therapy (3 roots).
It ended up needing a crown about 22 years later.
The tooth eventually cracked and had to be extracted 37 years after the RCT.
After allowing a year for the bone in the jaw to grow back into the cavity of the extracted tooth, I had a new molar implanted.
So, an extraction is not quite final. Your decision might even take into account how long you want to keep that molar.
3 Likes
Hi Gaby
Sympathy to you and your teeth! I’ve had 3 root canals. One failed after only two years and that was about 12 years ago. $2800 down the drain. The problem I have with dentists is that you have no guarantee for work and there is a great dependence on the current quality of your own teeth. The other lasted about 10 years before I needed it extracted due to rot below the gum line.
I have bad teeth as I did not look after them as a child but have very strong roots so extractions are often painful and difficult. The third one I only had last year as the dentist talked me into it saying I had a very strong base for a crown as I was considering extraction and then implant.
At 54, my main consideration is how strong is the base and root remaining and the cost.
Simply put - if its going to cost me $3000 for a root canal and crown that may or may not last 10 to 15 years or is it going to cost me $280 for an extraction and then $4000 - $5000 for an implant (if you have the jaw for it). Which may (or may not, as implants are also known to fail) last me the rest of my life.
Just my experience - how it is helpful and all the best
Jerry
6 Likes
Hi @Jerry-K, welcome to the community!
Thank you for your kind words and good wishes.
Appreciate your input and I very much agree on how uncertain and costly dental treatment can be!
I also wish you all the best, and hope to catch you in the Forum again soon.
Gaby. 
2 Likes
Would you make the same comment about surgeons? The human body is complex. They can do their best and nothing more because if their skill is equal (which it is not) the rest depends on the body and whether the human takes care of whatever is done.
I have more crowns than natural teeth for the same reason. I also had a habit that created multiple hairline fractures on many teeth. My crowns have lasted 20+ years for the most part, some approaching 30 and just now needing replacements as the cement erodes, as it does.
How do you authoritatively know the former, although the latter is easy to know?
That is one way of looking at any health issue. The other some use in lieu, when affordability is not the main issue, is their best outcome. If a crown lasts 10-15 years and cost $3,000, that is 10-15 years of ‘good’ as compared to 10-15 years of an empty slot where teeth might be inclined to move about.
That assumes one will want an implant. Many work a treat, but some do not. It goes back to the dental surgeon, jaw bone, anatomy, and the vagaries of the human body, does it not?
3 Likes
What a hard call. I’ve come to the conclusion A GOOD DENTIST will do a good job. Too many bad experiences with dentists that have either made my problems worse (creating more work for them) or just not so proud of their work. I’ve since been to good and professional dentists and they have given me faith again. So in summary, get a good reputable dentist.
4 Likes
My wife recently had a root canal. She said it wasn’t as painful as an extraction and the results have been excellent. She’s very pleased with the outcome.
4 Likes
Hope its not too late.
My wife and I have both had root canals done. Early ones by the dentist ( uncomfortable and not always successful;) and by a specialist. The specialist has been terriffic. No discomfort andf they have all been successeful. If you are in SA I can give you a recommendation.
Best of luck
4 Likes
Thank you so much @grizzlyowl
I very much appreciate your kind offer
of recommending a good dental specialist, so very lovely of you! 
But I live in Melbourne…
Your post is not too late because the day before my dental appointment the pain had stopped and I was able to gain some more ‘thinking’ time.
Next week I’ll see what my dentist says
and where do we go from here. My hope is that it was a transient pain and that neither root canal nor extraction will be needed: do you blame me for wishing 
2 Likes
Understand—too well. Lived with a tooth like that for 3 years–dentist couldn’t find the issue. Specialist located a 3rd root in a tooth that had already had a root canal even under a crown. All fixed painless.
Best of luck
4 Likes
A couple of things that might affect your decision that others seem not to have mentioned.
First, even though the pain has stopped, it can still be infected and a runaway infection can quickly turn very nasty and spread well beyond the tooth itself and into the bone. I don’t want to scare you, but it is even possible for a top jaw tooth infection to get up into the brain. So I would not leave it too long & if you get any other symptoms please go straight in.
Secondly, teeth can move around in the gum over time (orthodontists use this principle to reshape people’s whole smile and bite). If there is no tooth next to another, there may eventually be movement along the jaw, or effects on the opposing teeth above or below that go to make up the bite. I am no expert in this but I would be discussing this with my dentist just in case it is a factor in the long run.
Lastly, let me say that while an extraction can work well for many people, and I’m going to do that as I get older because a missing molar is not so easily seen, in my own case I have had a root canal which did not work but it was able to be redone, so yes, the odds of failure are hard to predict as well as the costs, but an initial failure does not always have to mean a long term failure. It depends on a lot of things.
I have found over a long life after various types of problems simple and complex, and with bad work having to be re-done at extra cost, that the way to look at teeth is their life time value to you, as well as the cost.
For example, I just had all my remaining amalgam’s replaced because they were in some cases 50 years old and increasingly unreliable. Replacement was cheaper than the tooth one day soon breaking along with the filling and then requiring a crown, which was on the cards. So I’d consider looks, function and cost over my life taking the whole mouth into account, then I’d find the absolute best dentist I could.
Mine is brilliant (he was recommended to me by the professor at the Uni that trained him, who uses him himself and for his own family so you can’t get a better recommendation than that). The point is that the best dentists can actually save you money by helping you decide the best life-time value of the tooth from every angle, plus put a pretty good probability on the chance of it going wrong. My dentist makes decisions easy because of this, plus he charges about the same as the bad dentists (2!) that I used before him. So it is a no-brainer.
Hope this helps. Losing one tooth up the back I’m guessing is probably not a big deal, but it depends on your age which I don’t know, and the rest of your dental health. One tooth that leads to expenses down the track (whether because it is there or not) is a helpful way to think about it. Like buying a house, a tooth has a function and costs you money over a lifetime whether you like it or not, one way or another, so my view is don’t make a snap decision based on just one factor. And look after the rest of them as they can cost a bundle later if you don’t!
3 Likes
My dentist has the basic premise that saving a good tooth is paramount. I agree. Therefore, although there may be considerable expense involved, the root canal option is the far better one long term, in my opinion.
4 Likes
I had a root canal when I was pregnant 11 years ago (in the UK) with minimal anaesthetic after suffering with an abscess. Had to have the last bit of the prodcedure finished after my baby was born. You just need someone who’ll do a good job. But I would choose a root canal every time over an extraction, to save the tooth.
3 Likes
I had an endodontist tell me that I needed a root canal on a lower back molar that had had an amalgam filling replaced with a ceramic filling. Tooth reacted to hot and cold, hurt when I tried to eat hard food like almonds.
I decided to get a second opinion and found another dentist ( a member of the holistic dentist’s association, one who didn’t use amalgams, unusual at that time). He showed me with a camera in my mouth, cracks in the tooth which he said were common in teeth that had had large amalgam fillings in them and suggested that he try redoing the filling first. No problems since (20 + years)
2 Likes
Hi Gaby, I had all of my root canal therapy out many years ago (my back teeth) as the wholistic dentists said they mostly have internal abscesses under the RCT which can affect your general health and kidneys. That was fine for me as I am vegetarian. Do you need the tooth or could you manage without it or get a crown or bridge? Some health funds like AHM are rolling over this years extras entitlements for the next year so you if you are in a fund that does it may cost you very little. There was a book written by a top Hollywood Dentist on the damage of RCT. My wholistic dentist said that crowns and bridges are fine but root canal therapy and implants are not good for your general health. Good luck whatever you decide on.
Welcome to the forum @sparkles, but that opinion seems contrary to all of the evidence, links to much have been previously posted. While everyone is entitled to their opinion, opinions that do not reflect the best evidence can lead people to avoid proven and often appropriate treatments.
If you accept that opinion, would you please post citations supporting it as it seems a minority position at best and a latent conspiracy theory at worst. (please read the FAQs, 3rd section 6th bullet point ).
4 Likes
Hi BBG,
See the book “The Root Canal Cover Up” by George Meinig a leading American endodontist and Holistic care for your teeth - by Dr. Robert Gammal.
Dr Western Price former Director of Research for the American Dental Association for 14 years research spent 35 years researching root canal filled teeth and infections.
The field of bio-compatible and wholistic dentistry takes a different view as it looks at our overall health not just the tooth.
It may be a minority opinion but the view that amalgam was unsafe was a minority opinion and now it is used much less than safer materials…
A counterpoint is a not completely unbiased commentary on that book and author citing some potential failures of the ‘research’.
Dr. Robert Gammal seems to be associated with the anti-fluoride movement. I’ll leave that for what it might be worth since while proven to be efficacious for reduced tooth decay many are still worried about it.
I cannot find any references from peer reviewed journals. Are there any?
4 Likes
I haven’t read any and don’t have time to do research on it now that was just what I did at the time and happy now that I don’t have any amalgam or root canal therapy. I know there is big money in implants and RCT and it may have improved from when I had mine done but I just played on the safe side.
1 Like
Hi @pennycarrier and @SPARKLES
Thank you for taking the time to post in this topic and for your good wishes.
Very much appreciated.
Hope to see you in the Forum again soon
1 Like
