How much pain is normal after root canal? Horrible experience today.

Hi! Thanks for letting me post here (again). I recently fell on my face and luxated a tooth, and that one and other teeth are dying. (My original thread is at the very end for reference.)

Today, I got the first phase of the first two root canals done on my upper front teeth, and it was a horrific experience. I have a question about pain, which I did not get to ask the endodontist, so I’d like to ask it here after giving context about today’s appointment and why I didn’t ask.

The endodontist has incredible reviews, and my dentist and periodontist both recommended him highly, because he is an endodontist who specializes in tooth trauma. However, I’m disabled with a lot of nuances to my disability, meaning I have lots of questions before a procedure, and need to communicate well with the doctors if my body does something weird so we can have a game plan in place beforehand for how we both handle a disability boomerang if it happens mid-procedure.

However, this endodontist was extremely annoyed and took my questions as a personal affront. When I asked something (so that I could mentally prepare my disability and know what was happening to my body), he misinterpreted it as if I was questioning HIS skill, and he raised his voice at me several times. He also stormed out of the office at one point when I was suffocating and could not breathe because my airway was completely blocked due a combination of the position I was in, the bite block, the rubber dam, and my disability. My throat muscles are partially paralyzed due to my disability… which he would have known if he had listened to me when I tried to communicate with him BEFORE starting things.

Luckily, the dental assistant noticed that I couldn’t breathe and said, “Doctor, she can’t breathe.” The dental assistant sat me up, I gasped for air, caught my breath. The dental assistant helped me reposition, omitted the bite block, they cut a hole in the rubber dam, and then everything was smooth after that. Once my airway was no longer cut off, things went smoothly. (Oh, he also screamed, “I can’t work like this” several times before the nurse helped me unblock my airway. He kept blaming my “anxiety,” which was actually a paralyzed/blocked airway 🙄)

At the end of the procedure, the endodontist motor-mouthed the post-op instructions at me and told me to take meds that I had clearly already told him I’m allergic to. He also said we could use sedation next time, which I had also already told him is contraindicated for my condition.

From day one, I told him I would have to white-knuckle the pain after the numbing injections wore off. Because of his intimidating temper, I was too scared to ask him about post-op pain. Obviously, someone NOT on pain pills will feel different pain than someone who is on pain pills.

Now that you all know why I didn’t ask my endo this basic question, and why I’m asking such a basic question here, here is the ACTUAL question:

What is a normal level of pain after a root canal versus what is a red flag amount of pain?

One of the teeth is in alarming pain now, MUCH worse than before the root canal. Is that normal since I’m not on pain meds? Or is it supposed to be in less pain after the root canal, because the nerve is gone?

Thank you all very much.

Original thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/askdentists/s/pHaGdJzsco