Pain After Root Canal - Things To Do!

When a small cavity isn't treated on time, the tooth may get so badly decayed that normal filling cannot solve the problem. In such cases, your dentist will probably advise you to have a root canal. When performing a root canal, the dentist will remove the nerves and pulp within the tooth, clean the inside of the tooth and seal it. After this procedure your tooth will not sense anything and should be pain free. However in some cases, you may still experience pain after a root canal.

There are four main causes of this pain:

1. Swelling of ligament around the tooth

One of the signs that you need a root canal is swelling of the gums. Even after the nerves and pulp within the tooth are removed, the ligaments around the infected tooth may still be swollen. This can take some time before the tissue is normal again. In most cases this is the cause for pain after a root canal procedure.   

2. Damaged tissue

Part of the root canal procedure is to clean the insides of the tooth. Here the dentist must be very careful to not go beyond the tooth. In some cases the file used to clean the tooth may go beyond the root and damage the tissue there. Another possibility is that the sealant used to fill the tooth may go beyond the root thus aggravating the tissue. This can take some time to heal and can cause pain.

3. Excess filling

After the tooth has been cleaned, the dentist fills the tooth with a sealant. If excessive sealant is filled in the tooth, it may become taller than the surrounding teeth. This makes you hit that tooth first when you close your jaw and puts extra pressure on it resulting in soreness and pain. Your dentists will need to remove the excess sealant to resolve this issue.

4. Phantom pain

Phantom pain is rare when it comes to root canals. This occurs when the nerve leading upto the tooth still behaves like it were connected to the tooth despite the nerve within the tooth being completely removed. The peripheral nerves will need to be treated to resolve this issue.

In most cases , these events cannot be prevented. There is also no reason to expect that this is a symptom of your root canal being a failure. Stay in touch with your dentist and brush and floss your teeth regularly. You will soon notice the pain subsiding.