My Experience

We were working on the lower molar in the back on the right side. Something on an X-ray had indicated an infection at the root, and my jaw was trying to wall it off with calcification. We wanted to avoid bone loss so we did root canal.

First the endodontist gave me a gel on the gum to numb the area, then a small shot of Novocain. Once numb, she gave me more Novocain. She worked on my tooth for about one hour. First she drilled through the crown and she told me when she was through it. She told me when it would be loud, and when I would feel vibrations. It felt like it took forever. Her assistant was watching me and asked every once in while if I wanted to take a break. She told me to just raise my hand and they would stop if I needed a bathroom break or needed to stretch. After the endodontist got through the filling, she got into the root. She put a temporary filling in and I returned a week later because she didn’t have enough time to complete it that day. When I returned in a week she repeated the Novocain, cleaned out the area and filled in the root area of the tooth. She then put a seal on it. It took about 45 minutes. Then I went back to my dentist to have the crown sealed up.