This is my review on the place and my root canal experience here:…read more
I got 2 root canals done here today. Both at the same time. Since the experience is fresh in my memory, I'll review it right away.
It was easy getting to the offices. When you walk into the building, it's very obviously professional and clean. The Endodontic office is on the second floor of the building. You have the choice to take the elevator or the stairs located directly next to the elevator.
When I got into the office, the two women at the reception desk were very nice and helpful. One of them explained the paperwork to me thoroughly I had a couple of questions about it when I was finished and she explained them both to the best of her knowledge. The ladies even complimented my leggings I had on lol. It was nice!
When I was called into the appointment, the nurse was nice. She was a little quiet, but nice nonetheless. She showed me where I could hang my things and I sat on the dentist chair and waited for the endodontist.
When the endodontist came into the room, he was very sweet. He introduced himself, his name is Joe Nencka. He had me explain the pain and problems I was having with my teeth and then proceeded to do a couple of tests on my teeth to determine my sensitivity I believe. When that was determined, he explained to me my options as far as my teeth being either removed or restored. He also explained my payment options. I chose getting a root canal on both of my teeth at the same time.
I'm not going to say the experience was painless, because it most definitely was not. The first thing they did was numb my mouth, obviously. He put a topical on the outside of my gums and gave me an anesthetic shot. The big pain came when he gave me a shot on the roof of my mouth. The only other time I had this happen was when I had a tooth extracted years back and let me tell you, I do NOT remember it being this bad. There was extreme pressure. No pain, just pressure. When I thought I couldn't take any more pressure, there was more. I honest to god thought my teeth were going to pop out of my mouth. I wish I was exaggerating. I almost had to grab the dentists hand to make him stop. I had no idea what to do. It was miserable, and that was just the roof of the mouth shot!
From what I can remember, the procedure was almost painless. First, they put a rubber sheet over my mouth to isolate the teeth and to prevent saliva and my tongue from getting into the teeth or getting in the way. My main concern with that wasn't going to be able to breathe since I mainly breathe from my mouth, but I did okay. After that, I had to get a couple more shots of anesthetic to help me out. For some reason I could still feel some of the procedure pretty well which was awful. I felt some of the drilling and when he cleaned the very end of the canal, but the dentist was very reassuring and applied more numbing when possible. I was being a bit of a b***h during the procedure, but I couldn't help it. It hurt!
I remember them taking measurements of how long my canals were, also.
During the procedure my jaw was absolutely killing me and the worst part about it is that you can't do a thing about it. They give you something called a "bite block" that you have to bite on with the other side of your mouth to hold your mouth open during the procedure, so moving your jaw, even a little, is impossible. Thankfully they let me take a break toward the end.
There was a lot of pressure, pushing and pulling to clean the canals, vibration to open them, drilling, bad smell, noises, and pain.
When they were filling the canals and teeth, he used a heat gun to seal it I believe. I felt the heat minimally and to be honest, it was kind of relaxing after all of that. When they were done, they sat me up and took some final x-rays to make sure everything was finished properly. When it was determined that it was, then they did the filling.
When they took the bite block out and the guard off my teeth, I'd like to say it was a relief, and it was to an extent. All I could focus on though was the horrible pain in my jaw from having my mouth open for so long. But, the dentist gave me an ice pack that I got to keep which was nice and went over the x-rays with me and compared the ones he took in the beginning and he said the procedure went very well. He gave me a pain pill in the office and told me what to take for pain when I get home. He also told me what to do as far as my crowns and such. He made sure to go over everything with me.
At the very end, I went through payment options with the receptionist since I was expecting to only get one root canal done today instead of both and only had enough money for one down payment She was very understanding and explained to me what would happen financially which I was fine with.
I had a good experience here and definitely recommend them and Dr. Nencka!