hi everyone - could you share your insight or experience please?
my 1st molar had root canal done years ago & my ortho told me to extract that tooth for my upcoming braces...so i went to see my dentist and ask him re extraction on that root canal tooth, he says that during extraction it might break because it's more brittle than the regular teeth & asked if i rather do it at an oral surgeon with general anesthesia..
my preference for extraction is local as i really prefer local vs general anesthesia...thus did anyone had a root canal tooth taken out using local or general? and did it break during extraction?? yikes...i'm scared...
What a well-timed question. Just 5 days ago I had a tooth extracted that had had 2 root canals. It was hurting a lot, evidence of some infection, but nothing showed on the x-ray. However, after consulting with 2 Oral Surgeons both believed the root to be fractured, and infected, and advised extraction.
Interestingly, both would only do local anesthesia, would not do general because even if it is fractured, the procedure can easily be done under local, just time consuming.
Actually, the story ends rather nicely. I was really scared, and had to have about 3 shots, but really not bad at all. Maybe 10 minutes later the surgeon said, "let me show you something" and she showed me my tooth - she'd already pulled it and I swear I never felt a thing. The tooth was badly fractured and (this is a little gross) there was this little sack of infection attached to it, thus the pain.
I was given a prescription for Vicodin but never took any, and barely took tylenol. If I had known that it wouldn't be such a nightmare, I would have taken care of it sooner but am so, so glad I did.
My advice, for what it is worth, do not allow an oral surgeon to talk you into general anesthesia for this, unless at least two say to do so and can explain why local won't work.
I'm sorry to say, but extractions are generally not too complex and do not yield much revenue under general (I paid $206 for mine, no insurance). Going the general anesthesia route often allows them to bill your medical insurance if you have it, and is very, very profitable for the exact same amount of work. Local all the way!
No offense to the DDSs who support this post. You all are probably ethical whereas there are a lot of DDSs, and other health care professionals, who are not.
Keep us posted on what you decide to do. I hope your extraction experience is as much of a "no brainer" as mine was.
