Pain after a Root Canal: Causes and Treatment

Root canals are painful procedures to clean the inside of your tooth deep, irritating the surrounding nerves and gums. The discomfort you experience from a root canal doesn’t last forever and subsides within a few days after receiving root canal therapy near you.

Mild to moderate pain after a root canal is expected for a few days after treatment. However, if the discomfort extends beyond a few days, your tooth might need an additional dental cleaning or other dental procedures.

Recovery from a Root Canal

Earlier root canals caused immense pain, making people avoid the treatment. Fortunately, the dentist near you presently has measures to relieve pain and minimize the discomfort you experience when undergoing the procedure.

Before starting the process, the dentist applies local anesthesia on your gums to minimize pain before injecting more local anesthesia near the affected tooth to block pain impulses. Local anesthesia ensures you feel no pain when the dentist starts working in your mouth to clean the infected tooth.

You experience mild pain and sensitivity as the local anesthesia wears off. The discomfort is related to the cleaning process and not the infection in your tooth. When performing a root canal, the dentist makes a tiny access hole in the tooth’s crown to clean the infected or inflamed dental pulp inside the tooth’s chamber. They also clean the canals, disinfect them, and fill and seal them with a rubber-like biocompatible material, gutta-percha. While you experience discomfort and pain besides sensitivity after a root canal, it should subside within a few days.

As the pain after a root canal is generally mild, you find relief from over-the-counter painkillers. However, you must check with the dentist performing the therapy before taking the painkillers to ensure they don’t interact with any supplements for prescriptions you may take. In addition, you must avoid chewing complex foods immediately after a root canal because it can cause more pain.

Seeking Help from Dentists for Root Canal Pain

The pain from root canal therapy in West Palm Beach, FL, decreases over time. However, if you continue experiencing pain and swelling, you should contact your dentist for advice. Generally, most people need a couple of sessions for success after a root canal. Occasionally you may require additional cleaning sessions as indicated by the recurring pain you experience.

Some teeth, like the molars, have multiple canals that remain undetected even when the most experienced dentist performs the treatment. In such cases, the professional recommends retreating the tooth by performing a similar procedure to clean the hidden canals.

Your symptoms ease up by taking over-the-counter pain-relieving medications. However, if they don’t, the dentist recommends prescription-strength narcotic pain relievers temporarily for a few days. After your tooth has recovered, your dentist will suggest restoring it with a dental crown fabricated from metals, porcelain fused to metal, or ceramics, depending on the spot of the affected tooth. The restoration prevents damage to an impacted tooth rendered fragile by intensive therapy.

Managing Pain

A dentist best addresses pain after a root canal. Beyond taking pain relievers temporarily, there are some things you can adopt for pain management after a root canal. You must care for your teeth, avoid crunchy and hard foods until the pain subsides, and quit smoking because it helps.

Stress-relieving activities like meditation, yoga, and tai chi, are also effective techniques for managing pain after a root canal. These activities help take your focus off the pain.

Generally, most root canals are successful in ensuring you don’t experience discomfort when undergoing the procedure and find relief from the pain you experienced because of the infection after you receive the treatment from the dentist. Unfortunately, if you need the treatment on a molar with multiple canals, the chances of a canal remaining undetected and needing re-cleaning to become necessary.

Successful root canals can cause mild discomfort for a few days. The pain should subside and disappear if you practice good oral hygiene. You must visit your dentist for a follow-up if the pain persists and last for over 72 hours.

If you decide not to have a root canal, an alternative to the treatment is tooth removal and replacement with dentures, bridges, or implants. However, tooth removal is expensive, and so are the replacement options, besides needing multiple visits to the dentist to restore your mouth functionality.

If your dentist recommends a root canal, they do so to ensure you experience less pain from the infected tooth over time. The relief you find from a root canal makes it six times more likely to remain pain-free than others refusing the treatment.

If you have an infected tooth needing root canal therapy John S Ledakis, DDS, PA, helps you by providing this treatment to preserve your natural tooth. Kindly do not hesitate to consult them today to get rid of the infection in your tooth to avoid expensive complications.