After roughly 22 years, a root canal I had from a previous dentist failed. It was spotted on X-ray…read morefrom my current periodontist and cosmetic dentist roughly in 2013 however. They had watched it continuously yearly. It decided it was "not playing games anymore" and I knew it was infected. I went to urgent care and all the doctor had to do was look at my gums near that tooth to know there was an issue. She prescribed Augmentin.
As the tooth had the root canal, I didn't have an idea an infection was there, until the day after Christmas. I couldn't bend down without it throbbing. I couldn't touch way up at the root area without it hurting, and because of where the tooth is located, I couldn't smile or laugh without pain.
This Endo Group got me in ASAP so that Dr. Choi could look at it. X-rays were taken, and he confirmed that there was indeed an infection, and that the best option at this juncture would be a procedure in layman's terms, where they go into the gum and clean out all the diseased and infectious tissue, cut a small part of the tip of your root off, and then fill the top off so that nothing gets back down into the root.
Dr. Choi did state that he doesn't preform this particular procedure and that only Dr. Nagel does, so they booked me with Dr. Nagel very quickly too considering this was all during the holidays for another consult.
Dr. Nagel stated he could perform it after looking at my X-rays and the tooth, and conveyed to me that if I desired to get this tooth fixed more quickly, he worked mostly out of the Framingham office. (I did meet with him and Dr. Choi originally in Milford)
When I asked the scheduling department what they could do, luckily for me someone canceled, and I could have the procedure done the day after I saw Dr. Nagel, but in Framingham.
The procedure was painless as Dr. Nagel knows exactly how much local is needed, & I felt nothing. The procedure was also extremely quick. You're booked for an hour, but most of that is simply prep (numbing) and it felt like he wasn't in my mouth that long.
When we did speak during consult, I did convey to him, that I am the type of individual that doesn't desire a play by play of what someone is doing in my mouth as I suffer from panic attacks. He stated he would only tell me when he needed to leave to take X-rays, which made me feel better. He also asked me NUMEROUS times how I was doing. So he not only performed a pain free surgical procedure, but he made sure that you were doing well every step of the way. They even gave you a blanket if you felt cold.
There was ZERO bleeding afterwards because of the cauterizing he did as well. So you're not walking out with a whole bunch of gauze. Or blood all over your lips.
He prescribed Amoxicillin, a prescription mouth wash, and I don't like pain killers, so he gave me 800 ibuprofen which you don't even need to take much of it. I'm on day 5 of healing, and I think I took 1 for three days. Not the 2 as I didn't need it. It's healing outside of the gum wonderfully. You wouldn't know he did anything to you.
He did inform me on what to expect. I had no bruising which I was happy about (but he stated that could occur), minor swelling that has went down to almost nothing.
He genuinely cares about his patients and their concerns. He listens attentively, and you will see that, as he's performing your procedure (whether it's a root canal, or an apic that I had performed) that he listens to all your fears and makes sure you are doing wonderfully every step of the way.
He's excellent in post op care instructions, so you know exactly what to expect and what you can and can't do.
If I ever need another root canal or this particular procedure, I would not hesitate to book him in a heartbeat.
Thank you Dr. Nagel for being an exceptional doctor.
It is appreciated more than you'll ever know.
