How To Reduce Discomfort After A Root Canal Treatment
Broken teeth sometimes need to be repaired with dental crowns, and this is most common when a large portion of the cusp breaks away. Your dentist may complete a root canal before the crown is secured. This helps to get rid of damaged or infected dental pulp from the inside of the tooth. Your tooth may be somewhat sore after the treatment is over. If you must deal with pain and soreness, make sure to read through the suggestions below to reduce your discomfort.
Take the Antibiotics that are Prescribed to You
Your dentist will provide you with an antibiotic prescription after your root canal is completed. It is extremely important to take the medication provided to you to reduce discomfort. If your tooth is infected when the root canal is performed, then a large amount of pus may be present inside your tooth. Infected tissue may also sit inside, and some pus may leak from the tooth to infect your gum tissues. Redness, swelling, and sensitivity are all signs that your gum tissues are infected. Taking the antibiotics will reduce the infection around the tooth and decrease pain symptoms.
Be patient when you take your antibiotics. The medication will work fairly quickly to kill the bacteria infecting your gum tissues, but it may take two or three days until you start to feel better. In the meantime, make sure to drink a full glass of water when you take your medication. Take the antibiotics at the same time each day and do not drink fruit juice or milk two or three hours after you take the medicine. These things may affect the way that the medication is absorbed into your body. Also, antacids may interact with antibiotics, so try to avoid them.
Avoid Placing Pressure on the Treated Tooth
You may feel some pain coming from your tooth after a root canal procedure, even though the dental root is no longer present. The discomfort is sometimes called phantom pain and it occurs when the brain senses trauma in the area of your mouth. Pain sensations are then sent out by the brain to indicate that there is trouble in the area. Sometimes, the pain will come from the nerves in the teeth or gums around the treated tooth. The discomfort can be difficult to pinpoint and treat, but it will usually go away relatively quickly if it is caused by the root canal.
Pain around the treated tooth also may come from the tissues that sit between the tooth and the jawbone. The tissues are the periodontal fibers that help keep the teeth secured in the jaw. These tissues can become bruised or stressed either during an injury or during the root canal procedure. The tissues need to heal, and your tooth will stop hurting afterwards.
Pressure Reduction Methods
One of the best ways to make sure that phantom pain and periodontal fiber pain subside quickly is to reduce pressure on the area of your mouth where the root canal was performed. Chew on the opposite side of the mouth and use light pressure when brushing your teeth. You may want to switch to an electronic toothbrush to minimize pressure when cleaning your mouth. These brushes utilize fast rotating movements instead of direct pressure to release plaque and food particles.
A waterpik instead of dental floss may be a good idea as well. Not only will the water tool reduce gum and tooth stress, but it will help combat infections by cleaning out the small pockets of tissue around the edges of your root canal treated tooth. Buy a pulse flow irrigator device and make sure it is fitted with a standard tip. Hold the tip about one-quarter inch from the gum line, and spray around the gums with the waterpik held at a 45 degree angle.
Make sure to clear this with your dental professional or someone from a place like Maplewood Dental Associates, PA.