How To Stop Tooth Pain Fast?
5 February 2025
Root canal treatment in Rotherham, with the alternative spelled out
- Find out whether the nerve inside the tooth is the problem
- Explain what treatment involves, and how many visits
- Set it against taking the tooth out, honestly
- Price it in writing before anything starts
The sooner a painful tooth is looked at, the more straightforward it usually is.
Not sure which appointment you need?
This is a guide to the right first appointment, not a diagnosis. Your dentist will talk through what is right for you once they have had a look.
Would rather just talk to someone? Call 01709 872292 or send an enquiry.
What it costs
- Root canal treatment from
- Private £290
- Membership plan £270
Fees are reviewed regularly. Please ask us for a current estimate.
Tooth keeping you awake?
Finding out whether the nerve is the problem is the first appointment, and it is what decides whether the tooth can be kept.
About the reputation
Root canal treatment has a worse name than it deserves, and the reason is a mix-up about timing. What people remember as agony is usually the infection in the days beforehand. The treatment is what stops it.
The tooth is numbed the same way as for a filling. Most people find the appointment uneventful, if long, because the work is fiddly and unhurried by nature. Bring headphones.
It is normal for the tooth to be tender for a few days afterwards, and ordinary painkillers usually handle that. Pain that is getting worse rather than better is worth a phone call.
What happens, and what comes after
The infected tissue is removed
The nerve and blood supply inside the tooth are cleaned out, the space is disinfected and shaped, then sealed. It may take more than one appointment.
The tooth becomes brittle
Without its blood supply, and with the access hole made to treat it, the tooth is weaker than it was. Back teeth in particular often need a crown afterwards to stop them splitting.
It can still get decay
A treated tooth has no nerve, so it will not ache to warn you. It still needs brushing, cleaning between and checking, exactly like the others.
Book an appointment for a painful tooth
Root canal treatment is what keeps a tooth that would otherwise be taken out. The sooner it is looked at, the more straightforward it usually is.
What patients say about this treatment
Left on Google by patients of this practice, unedited, each one linking back to the review it was taken from.
I recently had a root canal. I’m terrified of the dentist and I panic when I have things in my mouth but all the way through the dentist and the dental nurse were very attentive and kept asking if I was doing ok it made the process a lot easier I’m overall happy with my treatment
Response from Fitzwilliam Dental
Thank you for your kind review! We’re so glad to hear that the team made your root canal treatment as comfortable as possible and that you felt supported throughout the process. It’s great to know that their attentiveness helped ease your nerves. We truly appreciate your feedback and are happy to hear you’re pleased with your treatment!
Questions people ask
How a tooth gets to this point, whether the treatment works, and what the alternative is.
How does a tooth get to this point?
Something lets bacteria reach the pulp, the living tissue inside the tooth. Decay is the common route, but a fracture, a knock, a filling that has come loose and gum disease all do it too.
Once the pulp is infected, the infection works down towards the tip of the root and into the bone around it, where it forms an abscess. That is the stage that produces a hot painful swelling, often with a fever and feeling generally unwell, and it is not a stage to wait out.
Does it actually work?
Most of the time, yes, and a treated tooth that is well restored afterwards can last as long as the teeth around it.
When it does not work, it is usually because the inside of a root is more complicated than any instrument can fully reach, so some infected tissue survives even when the treatment itself was done well. Then there are three options: do the root treatment again, treat the tip of the root surgically, or take the tooth out.
Because it is fiddly work, some cases are better referred to a specialist in this specific treatment, and we will say so rather than press on.
What are the risks?
Three worth knowing before you agree to it. The tooth is weaker afterwards and more likely to fracture, which is why a crown is usually advised on a back tooth. The tooth can darken over time, which matters more at the front than the back.
And the treatment can fail for the anatomical reason above, in which case you are choosing between the options in the previous answer.
What if I just have it out instead?
That is the alternative, and it is a real one. Taking the tooth out ends the infection and it ends the problem.
What it leaves is a gap. You can leave the gap, or fill it with a denture, a bridge or an implant, and each of those is a longer conversation and, in the case of the last two, more expensive than the root treatment would have been. That is the trade to weigh rather than a reason to refuse.
What happens afterwards?
The tooth gets checked, and it gets checked with x-rays as well as by looking, because the healing that matters is happening in the bone at the root tip where nothing is visible.
Beyond that it needs what every other tooth needs. Brushing, cleaning between, and coming for check-ups. A root-treated tooth has no nerve left, so it cannot ache to warn you that something is wrong.
Find out whether the tooth can be kept
Come in, find out what is causing the pain, and leave knowing what keeping the tooth would involve and what it costs.
Book an appointment Call 01709 872292
Payment plans are available for larger treatment plans, subject to status and to the lender's terms. See how they work.
Further reading