“ Sir, root canal treatment was not at all painful… Thank you, But will it pain after anesthesia wears off ?”. A very expected and casual question by every patient who undergoes root canal treatment at our dental clinic in Pune. Today let’s discuss the post-treatment Tips/ instructions to be followed after a painless root canal treatment.
Firstly, let’s understand the root canal treatment in brief.
What is root canal treatment?
When the tooth gets decayed and decay reaches pulp tissue, a patient complains of pain and sensitivity. The symptoms vary from slight sensitivity, pain on biting, and pain while lying down to severe continuous throbbing pain. It’s because microorganisms infect the pulp tissue and cause inflammation of nerves. The nerve carries the pain sensation towards the brain and the patient feels severe pain.
Nowadays, We complete the root canal treatment in Pune mostly in one or minimum visits. With advanced techniques, we remove the nerve, clean the canal, and fill it with biocompatible inert material.
At the beginning of root canal treatment, we administer the local anesthetic injection to anesthetize nerves. The effect of anesthesia remains for quite a few hours post-treatment. Usually, it takes 3 – 4 hours to wear off the anesthesia.
Tips to follow for speedy Root canal recovery
Following are some important root canal recovery tips that help to reduce post-treatment pain.
Avoid eating and Speaking
Particularly, when we treat lower / mandibular teeth, we give complete nerve block and it anesthetizes not only the teeth but also the gums, surrounding oral mucosa & part of the tongue of that particular side. So post-treatment, there are chances of biting the tongue and lips. The patient has to avoid eating hard & speaking much. As the tongue and cheek are numb, the Patient won’t understand if he accidentally bites the tongue or cheek. which may cause injury and ulceration later.
Avoid Biting from a treated tooth
As we know, during the root canal treatment, we remove the nerve and pulp tissue from the canal system, and there is always slight injury at the end of the root. The injury usually heals in a week. So during this time, If the patient bites from the treated tooth, the pressure of bite directly transmit from the root to the injury and it starts paining. To minimize this pain, we usually disocclude the tooth from active occlusion. And advise the patient to avoid biting from that side.
Taking Medicines post-treatment
As root canal treatment is an operative procedure, there is always some inflammation post-treatment, and to reduce this inflammation, we prescribe some anti-inflammatory drugs. Advise the patient to take these medicines as and when required.
Do not put cotton in the tooth
In multiple visit root canal treatments, we place temporary cement in-between visits. sometimes, the cement dislodges from the tooth. So please do not put any cotton by yourself. This may lead to secondary infection from cotton.
These are simple instructions cum tips to follow after root canal treatment and experience no pain. If you need root canal treatment, Then do not hesitate to contact us.
