“What hurts more tooth extraction or root canal?”

Extraction has immediate pain but is very short term and a root canal 95% does not hurt.

As long as your dentist uses local anesthetic there should be no pain with either procedure.

Hmmnn... during the procedure or after?
Let me put it this way... it does not have to hurt. If you are properly numb, you should not feel any pain during the procedure. After the procedure, your dentist will prescribe medication to cover just in case there is a post operative pain.

Generally receiving root canal treatment is more comfortable than a dental extraction, because the feeling of pressure that comes with a tooth extraction can not be fully diminished with local anesthesia. Both may be a comfortable experience as long has sufficient anesthesia has been achieved.

You are numb for both procedures. The post-op healing time of an extraction maybe longer than the post-op of a root canal pending the amount of infection involved.

Both options should not hurt during the procedure. Once you are numb, an extraction should just feel like pressure. As for a root canal - once you are numb, it should not hurt. I have had patients fall asleep in the chair with root canals.
Hope this helps.

Although both procedures can be nearly painless (with some exceptions), you should be also considering the long-term value of keeping a tooth against removing it and possibly replacing it. Although tooth replacements are excellent, your own natural tooth is usually the best.

Well, it's hard to say if you are in pain both procedures will be uncomfortable, but if you take antibiotics before the procedure, you should not have any pain... Root canals are funny they are like pregnancies everyone in different sometimes their will be discomfort associated with them and sometimes they are absolutely PAINLESS. Dental extractions you will ALWAYS feel pushing and pressure.

Nothing should really hurt in the dental office. The key to any treatment should be profound anesthesia which sometimes can be difficult to achieve in the presence of infection. Your decision regarding root canal therapy vs extraction should involve your future oral health, nothing else. Root canal and a crown will save your tooth possibly for the rest of your life. Extracting the tooth, on the other hand, would only start your problems how to replace it in the future.

The procedures can be performed painlessly with the proper anesthetic.

Both extraction and root canal should not hurt during treatment, and both generally hurt minimally post treatment. Also, if you have slight pain it is always really easily controlled by over-the-counter pain medication. Since you are young, it is better in the long term to save teeth because they affect the way you look, talk, and eat. Choose to do a root canal treatment to save your teeth and remember you can always change your mind, but try to save your teeth for the long term!

Tooth extraction by far!!

It is possible and is not unusual to experience discomfort with either a tooth extraction or a root canal. This pain can usually be controlled with pain medication and should go away with time. There are many factors that determine the type and amount of pain you may experience with either of these procedures, and you did not provide enough information to give you an specific answer.

Hello,

Not many people think to ask which hurts more a root canal or an extraction. It is a smart question. There are a couple things to consider to figure out whether a root canal or an extraction hurts more; however, the extraction edges out a root canal (extraction is more painful). Neither of which should be painful during the procedure. First of all it is important to consider that basically the same thing is happening in both root canal and extraction procedures. The nerve is sending pain signals back to the brain causing the tooth to hurt. In both cases (extraction and root canal) the nerve of the tooth is being removed. No nerve, no pain signals to send to the brain. In the root canal the nerve is being removed from the inside of the tooth. In the case of the extraction the whole tooth is being removed which means the nerve comes with it. However, in the case of the extraction, since the whole tooth is being removed, it is going to severe other nerves in the tooth socket and jaw bone itself. There is more pressure on the jaw bone as it has to be flexible to let the tooth be removed.
Secondly, one of the most miss-understood ideas about root canals is, they either hurt afterward (like an extraction would) or they feel relieved afterward (unlike an extraction). This means that sometimes the nerve inside the tooth dies on its own and it is causing pain, but when the dentist removed the nerve, there is nothing to cause pain and the patient feels much better. These people often swear that their dentist can do a great root canal cause they had no pain afterward. Usually, these cases are ones that people have waited long past when the root canal should have been started, and the pain is unbearable. In summary, because an extraction severs more nerves and a root canal may not hurt at all afterward, the root canal should be considered less painful.
Hope this helps.

My best to you!

William F. Scott IV, DMD