Tips for Recovering from a Root Canal

Are you going to be having a root canal procedure performed soon? If so, you'll need to know the following tips for how you should deal with the discomfort afterward.

Have Ice Packs Ready for Pain and Swelling

You must use cold temperatures rather than hot temperatures to reduce the pain that you're experiencing around the tooth. Have ice packs on hand so that you can place them on the outside of the mouth along your jawline. If you use heat, that can cause too much blood to flow to the area and cause more harm than good. The heat will cause the swelling to increase rather than decrease.

Take Pain Medication

It is a good idea to have your prescription pain medication ready to go before the procedure begins. Many people make the mistake of waiting until they feel the pain to have their prescription filled, which is not a good idea. That pain may come in the middle of the night when you can't visit a pharmacy, or take several hours to get filled if the pharmacy is busy. Ask for your prescription in advance so that you have the pain medication on hand. Take it preemptively before any dental sedation completely wears off to minimize your discomfort

Watch What You Eat

You need to be very hydrated following the root canal procedure, so get ready to drink plenty of water. Try to keep the water at room temperatures so that your tooth is not affected by extremely cold temperatures. When you start to eat food, stick to foods that are very soft and don't require much chewing. Stick to foods like oatmeal at first, which will fill you up and avoid putting pressure on the tooth that had the root canal. You can gradually move to more solid foods as the discomfort starts to go away.

Control Bleeding with Clean Gauze

It will help to have gauze on hand to help control bleeding from the tooth that received the root canal. You can control the bleeding by gently biting down on some gauze to apply pressure to the tooth and absorb the blood. Make sure that you have plenty of clean gauze on hand since you'll need to swap in fresh gauze if the old ones become too soaked with blood.

Contact a local dental clinic like Sun Dental for more tips about having a root canal done.