RE: root canal, and clicky jaw

Hello Sarah. You are not alone in this phobia about dentists but I appreciate how very scary it is for you. My first job when I left school was as a trained dental Surgery Assistant soI know first hand how nervous patients would get about their treatment!

Root canals are quite straight forward. In top back teeth there are 3 roots to anchor the tooth into the jaw bone and each one has a nerve canal where the nerve runs along the jawbone and into the tooth. Lower teeth have two roots. Sometimes decay can cause an infection which upsets the nerve hence the pain. To avoid having the tooth removed it is possible to use a special little instrument to remove the nerves and then 'pack' the canal with a special paste that cleans the hollow tube that is left behind, ready for filling with another substance so as to seal it up again. To be on the safe side this paste is replaced once a week until the dentist is happy that all the infection has gonebecause if he filled it straight away there could be problems again with infection.
Your clicky jaw etc could be down to you grinding your teeth at night or clenching your jaw so a special 'plate' can be made to measure by your dentist to be worn at night to stop this happening.
Not knowing exactly what needs to be done on any other teeth I can't comment on the 'massive job' but if your dentist doesn't do anaesthesia in the surgey (a lot don't for patient safety) then referring you to somewhere that does is good.
I have mixed feelings about light general anaesthesia because you go 'under' terrified and wake up just as terrified because you were asleep while the work was carried out so do not know how it felt. I would maybe have another try with EFT. You may have MANY aspects to this phobia that may not all be linked to dental work and you need to work on each one, preferably with a trained EFT practitioner.
Finally, remember to BREATHE!!!!! We tend to shallow breathe when in panic mode which can make us feel dizzy and faint. Try to take a deep breath as you go into the surgery and continue to focus on your breathing but make sure you do not go the other way and hyperventilate!

I must confess it is a long time since I worked in dentistry and technology has moved on so things could be even better now with different techniques.

I hope this has answered some of your questions. Dental pain is terrible, I have suffered myself in the past! Good luck.

Love and light

reikiangel

xxx

RE: root canal, and clicky jaw

Hi Sarah

I have had four root canals in my life with just a local anethesia. I would have to say that the pain you are feeling now with your infected tooth far exceeds the pain of the root canal. In fact itdoesn't hurt at all once you have the shots out of the way. There is a little pressure and the noises kind of suck but the pain is very minimal if any. The recovery is usually pretty fast and easy too. It's definitely not a death sentence ;). Don't worry too much. It'll be over before you know it.

Sochoa