Hi Cathy & Sherry,

Root canals are almost always uneventful. The problem is that the only people that talk about root canals, are the few that have a problem. When was the last time someone came up to you and saud, "I just had a root canal and it was great"? Whenever this comes up with a patient I ask them if they ever mention that they drove their car today and DIDN'T have an accident. I'll bet if they DID have one, they would tell everyone. No one ever talks about uneventful things...it's human nature.

Exceptions to the rule are when a person waits too long to get one done and they go to the dentist in extreme pain from a very inflamed tooth. Then it's not uncommon for there to be some problems during treatment and afterwards. It sometimes is very difficult to numb an inflamed pulp. Also, some teeth have accessory canals that cannot be seen or gotten to and left over tissue in these canals can cause a lasting infection.

So Sherry, since it's not a definite root canal, I assume there is no pain now and the odds are more in your favor that the treatment will be painless.

Jerry