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You should not eat after a root canal until the anesthetic has worn off.
Dr. Brookes will take x-rays of your tooth to determine if the pulp can be saved with a root canal or if it needs to be extracted.
After numbing your tooth, we will scrape out the infected dental pulp, including the roots.
Each of the tooth’s canals is cleaned and shaped.
Gutta-percha is used to fill the inside of the tooth and replace the dental pulp. A dental crown may be recommended if the tooth is a molar.
1 in 4 adults in the U.S. has at least one cavity.
The signs of a tooth infection include severe tooth pain, swelling of the gums and face, an abscess, discoloration of the tooth, tooth sensitivity (especially from consuming hot and cold foods/drinks), an exposed root, and tenderness of the gums. However, in cases where the pulp has died, you may not feel any pain. This does not mean that the infection is gone, it just means that the nerves in the tooth have died. This is why it’s important to get an x-ray done to determine if you need a root canal.
A root canal should heal within a few days to a week. You may experience soreness or tenderness around the affected tooth for a few days once the anesthetic wears off. This is the residual effect of drilling and cleaning the inside of the tooth, which can cause some inflammation.
Taking anti-inflammatory pain medication should alleviate this and reduce inflammation. Try to chew on the opposite side of your mouth and avoid hot drinks for the first 24 hours. Stick to soft foods in the first 24 hours and avoid hard, sticky, or crunchy foods. Some people rarely take up to 2 weeks to heal from a root canal.
You should not smoke while you are healing from a root canal.
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