Pain After Root Canal

"Root canal treatment generally has more than 95% success rate"

Pain after root canal is one of the most feared condition after a visit to the dentist's clinic for a root canal treatment that most opt for tooth extraction when they can still save their tooth.

Perhaps its important to impart that majority of the root canal procedures are painless both during and after but pain has always been associated with dentistry that many of us prefer to suffer from toothache and avoid consulting a dentist until the condition worsen and pain is unbearable.

Sometimes the extreme pain that we often imagine is just in the mind and like most bad things that we imagine to happen, most of the time don't and in dental treatment like this, you'll be surprise to feel nothing when the dentist numbs your mouth in preparation for the root canal procedure.

In saying this, we would like to emphasize that a root canal procedure is performed to solve toothache pain and not cause it. Moreover, it is less traumatic as compared to tooth extraction.

If you're a candidate for a root canal treatment, please be assured that the above quote is based on an established study. Yes, it's a proven reality that 95% of all root canal procedure succeeds and only 5% of those are considered a root canal failure.

If you're one already suffering from a post root canal pain, we'll help you deal with it by explaining the types of pain that you may be suffering from and discuss possible ways of easing and eliminating the pain. This may include going back to your dentist for minor fixes or total tooth extraction.

When you have tooth decay, the inside of the decayed tooth usually becomes infected. This is one of the main reason why you feel pain; the pain after root canal depends highly on the extent of infection that your tooth is suffering from.

The best way to avoid pain after root canal is to see your dentist promptly especially when you're suffering from tooth decay, prolonging the agony will only worsen the infection and the more the infection spreads the more difficult it is to eradicate and when it spreads to the bone affecting the bone ligament attaching the tooth to the bone, the chances of having pain after root canal increases.

In a root canal procedure, the dentist will remove all the tissue inside the tooth. Some of this tissue will inevitably be pushed out to the end of the tooth through the apex and into the bone. The more the infection of the tooth, the higher the potential irritation and the chance that you'll feel pain after root canal.

Types of Post Root Canal Pain

Hyperocclusion - is a pain resulting from the grinding and clenching of your teeth which is infamed or infected. The infection produces fluid that elevates the tooth in its socket. Common way of reducing the hyperocclusion is grinding the tooth so it will not hit the opposing tooth when you clench.
Ghost Pain - This is similar to pain felt by those who underwent an amputation, for example, someone who had an arm amputated may experience pain on his fingers even though the whole arm has already been removed. This of course mean that the fingers from where the person feels the pain aren't there anymore.

This is because the brain is still unable to acknowledge that the fingers are indeed missing, the pain is caused by the memory pattern which is still in place in the neural circuitry that connects the area to the brain.

For same reason, the person may experience ghost pain in the tooth, temporary treatment in the form of Ibuprofen or other light analgesics but such pain is expected to go away even without treatment once neural connections recognizes that the part causing the pain is no longer there.
Gas Pressure Buildup - This could happen after the nerve has been removed but the canals have not yet been filled with gutta percha. The canals and chamber, filled with dead air and the access hole temporarily topped with a temporary filling.

Pain is felt whenever there's a change in temperature or the barometric pressure or when you drink hot or cold fluids which causes the air inside the chamber to extract or contract. This type of Post root canal pain is generally ignored as it subsides on its own after a day or two. Mild analgesics can also be taken to control the pain.
Periapical Abscess - This results from a chronic, localized infection located at the tip of the apex. It's an actual build up of fluid in the bone, the fluid may be germ free or it may contain germs. Infection of this type comes from an already infected tooth before the root canal procedure.

The Pain can be relieved by removing the temporary filling and allowing the fluid to drain. Some dentists would leave the tooth open for days until the swelling and fluid is gone at the same time treating the patient with antibiotics.

After the swelling and the fluids are gone, the tooth is cleaned and disinfected and is covered with a new temporary filling.
Failed Root Canal - Sometimes even though all measures and fixes have already been performed to eliminate the pain after root canal, it wouldn't just go away. If you're suffering from this type of post root canal pain and your dentist have tried repeatedly to resolve the issue but is unsuccessful; this may be a case of failed root canal. If this happens, you have two options. You either have to live with it or the tooth may need to be extracted and replaced with a bridge or implant.

If this article was not able to provide the specific information that you were looking for about the root canal pain that you may be experiencing. Please don't hesitate to ask us about it here and we'll answer your specific question for you. However, if you want to reach us directly, please feel free to do so via our contact form here.