Recover Faster from a Root Canal Treatment with These 7 Tips
Thanks to modern dental advancements, such as tooth extractions and root canal treatments, people can quickly and efficiently treat tooth problems and feel less pain. A root canal is a dental procedure where your dentist cleans and repairs a decaying tooth causing nerve damage.
While root canal treatments can significantly eliminate pain and discomfort, it may sometimes take you time to fully heal and recover from this procedure.
Fortunately, we put together seven practical tips to ensure your speedy recovery:
1. Take Pain Medication
It’s normal to feel increased sensitivity or discomfort in the affected area for a few days. But your dentist usually prescribes over-the-counter medications such as Advil and Paracetamol to relieve the pain and discomfort.
You must take the prescribed pain medication as directed. Ensure you don’t take other painkillers and let the prescribed medication work first.
2. Stay Hydrated
Like every other treatment, staying hydrated can help you recover quicker from a root canal procedure. Drinking plenty of fluids can keep harmful bacteria away from your treated tooth, help you heal faster, and retain high energy levels.
Staying hydrated after a root canal treatment can also help prevent a dry mouth, sockets, and other complications.
At the same time, you must be careful and avoid drinking straws because they can cause bleeding.
3. Stay Away from Hot and Cold Food
During the root canal, the dentist fills the root canal, removes the tooth’s nerve, and seals the damaged tooth with a sealant. Feeling soreness and sensitivity to hot and cold foods is expected once the anesthesia wears off after the procedure.
And for this reason, we recommend avoiding hot and cold foods such as coffee, snow cones, spicy foods, and ice cubes. You must also avoid crunchy or hard foods such as nuts, carrots, celery, apples, candy, and gum to prevent dislodging and damaging the temporary filling and crown.
Stick to soft and lukewarm food like mashed potatoes, oatmeal, warm soups, tofu, eggs, and noodles without hard vegetables.
4. Stay Away from Carbonated Drinks
Drinking carbonated drinks isn’t good for your overall health, especially if you’re recovering from a root canal procedure.
Besides increasing the risk of dry sockets, soft drinks have acids that can reduce the enamel’s hardness and cause tooth decay.
5. Elevate Your Head at Bedtime
You can also put a pillow beneath your upper back at bedtime to reduce swelling and ensure proper tooth drainage. Swelling is a common problem during the first few days after a root canal procedure. New blood supply flowing to the tooth can cause rapid swelling in the gum tissue and socket.
Elevating your head at bedtime can help reduce the swelling in the affected area.
6. Avoid or Quit Smoking
Like carbonated drinks, cigarettes also negatively impact your overall health, especially if you’re recovering from a root canal treatment.
It’s no secret that cigarettes can cause gum disease, and smokers are more at risk of poor oral health. Smoking affects the gums by blocking oxygen in the bloodstream, preventing the infected gums from healing. Thus, smokers develop more dental plaque and worse gum disease than non-smokers.
At the same time, cigarettes can increase the risk of developing dry sockets more than in non-smoking patients.
7. Don’t Eat after Treatment
Lastly, you must avoid eating right after the root canal procedure. Let the anesthesia wear off and pain medication work before eating. You should be fine if you take extra painkillers from the dentist before leaving the appointment.
Recovering a Better Smile
While you’ll feel better after a root canal, it can take a few weeks or months to fully recover. Following your dentist’s instructions can help you feel more comfortable and put you on a speedy road to recovery.
Southborough Dental Partners offers high-quality root canal services in Southborough. Visit our website now to schedule a dental appointment!