Anyone had a root canal? How long did you have to be reclined in dental chair? How did it effect MM? I just had dental surgery which I was sure I'd never live thru but did. Now I'm told I need root canal or will have to have tooth extracted. Extraction terrifies me but so does RC. It's not easy being a dental coward. Thanks for your help.
I did well. I was in the dental chair at least 4 hours. I have a very good dentist that works with me. He knows how scared and apprehensive I am about being there because of the Menieres. He doesn't have me recline very much. He told me to take one 0.5 mg of Xanax the night before and one 5 mg of Valium 20 minutes before my appointment. I was to have a root canal. The dentist drilled and was putting in the posts. There were issues with the tooth and he found he couldn't do the root canal. Next step... extraction. By this time, the novocain wasn't working anymore. He would shoot me with Novocain, wait the appropriate time and come back to pull... I told him I could still feel pain. This happened several times. Finally, he said he had to drill into the gum and deliver the Novocain that way. That was really painful, but it worked. He was able to pull the tooth. Like I said, he was very gentle and watchful and asking how I was doing. That really helped. I think he was afraid of me having an attack almost as much as I was! Hope this helps. Good luck. Keep us posted.
Communicate up front before anything even gets started... have a back up plan discussed. I told my dentist what I deal with and the possibility of a bad reaction. I told him that even if I did have a bad reaction to just get the job done and a friend could come get me (I had the name and phone number in my pocket and told him to just get it if I wasn't able). The dentist would often ask how I was. I did good though and since then have had a number of different kinds of dental procedures with varying times in the chair and got through them just fine.