Pain after root canal therapy is much less common than years ago. When dental pain occurs, this discomfort is usually due to inflammation and infection around the tooth roots. The inflammation comes from the dental infection so it makes sense to place patients on a dental antibiotic during dental treatment. In some cases, a steriod anti-inflammatory is prescribed to reduce the inflammation and settle the root canal tooth down. Fortunately, this is an unusually root canal problem and rarely occurs.

          Pain after root canal therapy is reduced when the dentist knows where the end of a root canal is since the dentist can avoid accidentally sticking the sharp ends of metal root canal files out into the bone surrounding the ends of the tooth roots. In years past, a root canal dentist did not exactly know how long a root canal really was since x-rays do not provide this information and that's all we used to have. Today, dentists can use sonar root canal apex (end) locators which help tell where the exact end of a root canal is located.

          Many dentists purposely reduce the top of a tooth that is having endodontic treatment. This eliminates a high tooth problem and reduces the pain after root canal therapy from biting trauma. A tooth that has died often has a dental abscess around it that causes the tooth to rise up out of it's tooth socket. This high tooth hits first and gets beaten up badly with lots of discomfort. Since almost all teeth need a dental crown after endodontics, performing this reduction actually assists with the later dental crown preparation procedure.

           Unfortunately, bad things sometimes happen to good people. There are risks with root canal therapy even with excellent dental treatment. Occasionally, root fractures occur in one or more of the tooth roots previously treated. This causes a low grade aching that doesn't go away and gets worse when patients are run down, sick or stressed. Over extended filling materials can sometimes cause sinus irritation but this is becoming less and less common. The Atlanta Dental Group PC offers root canal retreatment services along comprehensive General, Cosmetic and Implant Dentistry. If you are experiencing pain after root canal therapy, call 404-874-7428 to schedule a free dental consultation with Dr. Mark Allan Padolsky or Dr. Jeffrey Stephen Smith.