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Comment by wanderingstan | Hacker News Reader

No need to even go that far, in 2006 I had a root canal in Germany with no anesthesia or pain killers given. Made worse by the fact I didn't understand what it was being done. My German was terrible and the dentist's English was worse.

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Are you talking about anaesthesia in the sense of general anaesthesia (loss of consciousness and all that)?

Because that's really not needed for a root canal. I've had many and generally the dentist will make an injection to numb the nerve, have you wait 15 minutes, and start working. In case of discomfort they'll give an extra injection.

This can't be real. I've had a couple root canal procedures done, and even with local anesthesia, sometimes a jolt of pain comes through. It would be impossible to take, I would think.

It really matters at what stage the tooth is in. If the tooth is dead (e.g. you have pain that intensifies to heat, and cold helps)[1] then anesthesia won't make much difference you won't feel a thing anyway.

If you're getting root canal, because cavity is close to the nerve and your dentist don't want to use amalgamated filling then you will need anesthesia, because the nerves are alive.

[1] It gets a bit complicated with molars, which have multiple nerves, if one nerve dies, you'll still need anesthesia for the remaining ones, and you do need root canal, since you can't save part of the tooth and you do need anesthesia, because the tooth is not completely dead yet.

Hmm. Both of mine were on molars and certainly alive, so that explains that.

But I don't know how a dentist could possibly tell the nerves are dead before drilling in. And the way they know is that you say ouch that fucking hurts.

They do hurt you but they don't use a drill at first. I had a root canal done recently and the dentist briefly touched a piece of dry ice to my tooth. He did to a an undamaged tooth first, I guess to see if I could feel pain?

Correct. The doc did it to me.

I had a very dead tooth, and a very alive tooth. Worked like a charm.

I actually lived through all the stages described here (I'm mid 20's) and I live in the Eastern Europe. When I was a child 20-15 years ago, local anesthesia/numbing would not even be even put on the table as an option, then good 10 years ago the doctor would ask if I wanted the numbing - I haven't refused once since then because I knew what the experience was like with no anesthesia. Recently they have been giving anesthesia without asking, which is good.

I've had one done without. It's definitely not pleasant.

My mother had a few done without any kind of anesthesia just few years ago. Painful, but definitely possible to take.

Must be a thing in German speaking countries? Last year i was asked if i wanted local anesthetic when the dentist was about to drill a back tooth for a crown in Zurich. I blinked with incomprehension - I couldn't believe anyone would NOT want anesthesia. But apparently I had understood correctly and according to the dentist quite a few ask to forego it.

They may have asked because having dental insurance isn't as common in Switzerland (medical/accident insurance is mandatory, but not dental), so many people pay for everything out of pocket. They might opt-out of the anesthetic to save money.

My dad doesn't do anesthesia when getting fillings (we're in the US). He doesn't like the numbness afterwards and the pain doesn't bother him too much, I guess. I tried it once and made it through, but it was a pretty miserable experience.

Drilling and getting a filling isn't that painful and for some people getting a shot is less pleasant.

There even are some dentists in Germany that drawing teeth without anesthesia, but with the help of hypnosis.

Indeed, some people are way more afraid of needles.

And the pain (for drilling+filling a regular cavity) really isn't that bad. The biggest unpleasantness about it is that it's in a weird place, at the back of my tooth, and that it happens at pretty much random intervals beyond my control. Most of the time you don't feel a thing, until the dentist "hits a nerve", sharp pain, but also subsides within the second.

And as far as I've understood they don't actually hit the nerve with the drill, just that the tooth locally heats up from the drill friction, which the nerve feels as a sharp pain, anyone know if that is actually right? I just ... read it somewhere :)

I used to do without (it wasn't offered, I was young and didn't ask either), but nowadays I usually opt for the anaesthetic, I don't mind needles at all, and there's no downside to it, afaik.

How was it possible to hold still while having a large nerve drilled out?

I can't speak to dental stuffs, but some local anesthetics don't work on me. I found it remarkably easy, though extraordinarily painful, to maintain stillness while having my foot stitched back together. The grip I had on the bedframe, however, I'm surprised I didn't break it or tear something apart in my arm.

I can't really say how I did it, because I'm not sure. I just knew I had to and didn't move.

I feel like dental work is harder. I've had an ingrown toenail worked on, and every painkiller injection was a) incredibly painful, b) barely useful for dulling the pain. After about seven shots, I decided that the knife-work on my toe was going to be less painful than subsequent injections, and toughed it out.

It's much harder when having dental work done; I've had painkillers not-quite-take, and I always ask for additional injections, unless they're minutes from being done.

Holy crap am I glad I'm extra sensitive to painkillers' effects. For tooth work, I can easily get by on half a shot.

One thing few writers focus on, in terms of the post-apocalypse, is dental care. A cavity can literally kill you if it progresses far enough. David Brin actually addressed this in The Postman; maybe this is why everyone in post-apocalyptic television and most films has shiny white teeth - they know!

Whenever I read or hear about "preppers" or people preparing for a catastrophe, I've always wondered what their plan was for dental care. When I was in my early 20's, my wisdom teeth became impacted. My only symptom was a horrible upper respiratory infection that turned into pneumonia. Without antibiotics and then surgery to remove the teeth, I probably would have died.

And The Postman was a wonderful book.

So far for dental work anesthetics have always taken for me (or I've been knocked out, like when my wisdom teeth were pulled). I only brought it up because the foot happens to be another particularly sensitive area of the body. It's possible to get by without anesthetics, and you may (though I hope no one here ever has to find out) surprise yourself by how much you can tolerate while still remaining still for the procedure.

But in general, I think you're correct that dental work is harder. A bunch of stitches on the bottom of your foot, however, is still some sort of torture. The ones I've had on my head or arms or torso with other non-functioning anesthetics were far easier to take.

The way root canals were handled is by usually killing the nerve via opening up the nerve, putting arsenic in and sealing it with a temporary filling for 2-3 days. After that's all done, there's very little pain felt except when the doctor goes far enough to poke at the gums. The procedure does take longer than with anesthesia in that you need two visits for the whole process, but that's how they did it.

That explains a lot. I had one of these improperly done on a molar about 10 years ago. After the anesthetic wore off from the first visit, the pain slowly grew over the next few days until it was of brilliant, blinding, bang-head-against-hard-object make it STOP!! intensity.

After they took off the temp filling, the smell was nauseating. Apparently it wasn't cleaned very well.

Never went to that guy again.

The foul odor may well have been from an infection.

That is absolutely not normal.

Arsenic? So they not only using mercury in fillings but arsenic too for killing the nerve, nice :(.

That's terrifying; I'm guessing that the language barrier resulted in a serious miscommunication?

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