What to Expect After a Root Canal
December 29, 2019
After a root canal dressing
In order to clear up in the infection and stop the pain from your tooth, at the first visit we have remove the main part of the nerve and place an antibacterial dressing. This is designed to kill the bacteria that have grown in the tooth and cause any discomfort. As it takes time for this dressing to start working and the tooth is very inflamed, you may still have some pain after the initial treatment. We recommend that you take painkillers such as paracetamol as you need them. Any discomfort should be significantly improving by the following day. If it is not, please contact us and we will arrange to dress the tooth again.
So the antibacterial dressing has time to kill all the bacteria and sterilise the tooth, we normally leave it sealed in place for two to three weeks. Then we bring you back and complete the root filling and the filling on top. If you decide to leave the tooth for longer than a few weeks before a second appointment, there is a risk the active ingredients in dressing may run out and the tooth may get sore again.
After root canal completion
To seal your tooth and stop bacteria from growing inside it, we removed the antibacterial dressing and place an inert root filling material. This fills up the whole inside of the tooth so there is no room for any bacteria to grow. It is now up to your body to heal and to remove any remaining infection outside the tooth. For this reason, you may still have some discomfort after the final treatment. We recommend that you take painkillers such as paracetamol as you need them. Any discomfort should be significantly improving in the next few days. If it fails to keep improving or gets worse please contact us.
The success of root canal treatment depends mainly on how well the tooth is sealed from saliva and the bacteria in your mouth. Research has shown the best seal is obtained by placing a protective crown or onlay on the tooth. For this reason we highly recommend placing a permanent restoration as soon as we are sure the root canal treatment has healed. Usually we allow 6-12 months and will contact you for a review appointment.
If you have any questions or persistent symptoms which fail to improve or get worse, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
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