The Foods You Can or Cannot Have after a Root Canal

Does the thought of visiting your dentist scare you? Fortunately, you are not the lone superstar scared of visiting dentists. The sounds and smells of a dental office can make even the strong-hearted weak-kneed during any procedure.

What would be the situation if you had to visit your dentist with a severe toothache in a specific tooth and the dentist recommended after a thorough exam that you need root canal treatment to eradicate a severe infection inside the tooth? You would probably jump out of the dentist’s chair and try to run from the dentist’s office.

Your fear of the dentist and root canal therapy is natural. Most people are fed with controversial myths about this treatment stating it is painful and discouraging people from having it. Unfortunately, the reverse is true because this treatment is neither painful nor does it cause any complications. On the contrary, the therapy helps relieve the pain you feel in your specific tooth and prevents tooth extraction to leave gaps in your smile.

What Precisely Is Root Canal Treatment?

If you need endodontic therapy to treat infection inside your tooth, it confirms that you have allowed deep decay of an untreated cavity to aggravate by refusing treatment early. As a result, the minor hole in your mouth has spread deep into your tooth to infect the dental pulp and nerves.

After you have an excruciating toothache with dental pulp fiction, your only option to find relief from the discomfort is to accept the proposal of the Gilbert dentist to receive this convenient treatment that helps eliminate pain from your mouth while helping you preserve your natural tooth. Therefore the decision whether you want to undergo this tooth-saving treatment or lose your natural tooth to begin searching for replacements is entirely at your discretion.

When performing a root canal in Gilbert, the dentist ensures you don’t experience any discomfort during the procedure by providing adequate anesthesia and completing the process in one or two appointments. As a result, you will likely think the procedure was no more painful than having a filling in your tooth.

After the dentist completes the procedure, they provide after-care instructions to ensure you recover safely without complications and get your tooth restored with a dental crown. The after-care instructions provided by the dentist include the foods you can or cannot have for a few days after undergoing endodontic therapy.

Are There Eating Restrictions after a Root Canal?

After the dentist completes the treatment on your tooth, your mouth will likely remain tender the day of the procedure and a few days afterward. While you don’t experience any discomfort during the treatment, you will undoubtedly experience pain after the anesthesia wears off. Dentists provide a prescription for over-the-counter pain reliever recommendations to help you manage the discomfort. They also recommend you refrain from smoking because it can delay recovery.

Dentists recommend food restrictions for your safety and ensure you don’t irritate the treated tooth until you have it restored with a dental crown. Some examples of the limits are mentioned below for your reference.

• You must refrain from choosing any foods while your mouth is still numb to prevent biting your cheeks accidentally.
• You can use an ice pack on your cheeks to alleviate the swelling.
• You are permitted to have ice cream so long as you have ice cream without nuts and fruits.
• You are restricted from having crunchy and hard foods until you have the tooth restored with a dental crown. However, you can have soft foods for 72 hours after your treatment ensuring that you avoid having extremely hot or cold foods because they can irritate the treated tooth. When having any food, you must make a concerted effort to eat from the other side of the mouth of the treated tooth.

The restrictions might seem challenging after you have undergone severe therapy. However, it is a minor inconvenience to safeguard your treated tooth for a few days.

How Many Days after a Root Canal Can You Eat Solid Food?

Every patient is unique and recovers differently. Generally, most people require approximately a week or ten days before the treated tooth heals, which allows them to proceed with their restoration. Getting the tooth restored a dental crown requires around three weeks because the crown requires customization from a dental laboratory specifically for the patient’s mouth. Therefore people can have solid foods only after a permanent crown over the treated tooth. However, people are advised to remain cautious while eating hard foods with the dental crown to prevent damaging it.

Root canal treatments preserve millions of teeth in America and globally. Coral Pointe Dental & Orthodontics performs quite a few root canals and can help you if you have a severe toothache in a specific tooth. They can also provide after-care instructions to care for the tooth following the treatment. Kindly schedule an appointment with them today to find relief from the excruciating toothache bothering you.