Root Canal Recovery: How It Feels and How Long It Takes

While the risk of death or serious illness due to dental work has dropped precipitously in the last hundred years, major dental surgery is a big deal. It's going to be painful at first even with painkillers and the week or so for root canal recovery will have ups and downs. Thankfully, after the first few days, you shouldn't be in pain any longer and should get back to normal.

Here are four things to remember to avoid serious dental discomfort or making your problems any worse.

1. Be Kind To Your Mouth

After a root canal, you've just been through major mouth surgery and need to treat yourself that way. If you've had serious surgery, you need to pay attention to what your mouth is telling you and not do things that feel painful.

You'll notice some clear pain and swelling but that could be mitigated with the help of medication. However, you can take some action to help reduce irritating your mouth any further or having to deal with extreme pain.

Before you try to eat anything, you need to get full feeling back in your mouth. If you can't feel your mouth, you might end up biting too hard or pushing your mouth pas a point of reasonable discomfort, just because you can't tell yet. You also risk biting your tongue or hurting yourself in other ways.

Swelling happens often following a root canal, but you can reduce it with the help of an ice pack. While you're sleeping, make sure your head stays elevated so that you can ensure blood flows the right way and that you avoid irritation.

Your meals should be carefully planned so that you don't hurt yourself. Look for things that are easy to chew while giving you lots of nutrition. Soups and smoothies are perfect. Soft foods like mashed veggies can help give you what you need without leaving you in pain.

2. No Stress, No Problems

While you might be on a serious exercise regimen that has you running several miles a day, you need to give it up following mouth surgery. All that pressure, getting your blood pumping, and moving your head around is going to cause you undue strain.

Take some time off for a few days. Your dentist will be able to tell you exactly how much time off you should take.

The last thing you want is to start bleeding again. That will cause pains and changing that you don't want to deal with. During your recovery period, you need to avoid making your problems worse with your exercise .

While you might take some time to recover, you need to give yourself that time and avoid unnecessary strain.

If you need to get up and move around, go for a longer walk. Take things slowly and at a relaxed pace to ensure that you don't end up in pain following your surgery. Your recovery time should make you gradually feel better, rather than end up getting worse.

3. Don't Take Shortcuts To Rest

If you're in the middle of recovering, you need to get adequate rest. Get some rest while you're recovering to ensure that your body does the repairing that you need to do. Sleep is vital to recovery as it's when your body dedicates itself to repairing and fixing up your body.

Take a day or two off after your root canal. While your boss might not think that it's that big of a deal, all the healing you have to do will leave you feeling a little loopy and your medication is going to take a toll. This surgery is going to leave you sore and uncomfortable which will have you feeling tired.

When you take the time to fully rest your body, you'll be able to bounce back much better than if you slog through in your recovering state. While your body is recovering, all of your energy is being directed to healing and repairing. There's no way to get around sleeping off your issues, so take your time and relax.

4. Monitor Yourself

When you're going through any serious recovery, you're not going to feel like yourself. You're going to be functioning at a remove from how you normally feel. However, this gives you perspective to pay attention and listen to yourself.

Pay attention to how you feel when you get home after your surgery so that you have a way to compare. You should feel better after this, rather than any worse.

Your swelling and pain are supposed to go down after a day or so. If you find that you're feeling worse, then you need to call your dentist . Any serious or sustained pain after your root canal means that you could be dealing with an infection or a much bigger issue.

If you notice major swelling that doesn't go away after a day, it's time to call someone. The presence of rashes of hives is another sign that there's a problem to deal with. If your pain medication stops working to make you feel more comfortable, you need to call your dentist for something stronger.

They might have you come in so that they can take a look at what's going on and advise you on changes you can make. While this is uncommon, it's always a possibility after a surgery.

Root Canal Recovery Takes Care and Attention

If there's one thing that you can't rush in life, it's your root canal recovery. It'll take a few days but eventually, you'll be back to normal and able to eat the things you love again. However, those first few days of soreness will be distracting and exhausting.

If you're looking for a full smile makeover, check out our guide for more information.