Important Foods to Eat after Root Canal Therapy
If recommended root canal therapy by your dentist, the first question you might have about this treatment is the pain you think is inevitable, how much time you need to recover and what you can eat soon after completing the treatment. While root canal surgery is intensive because it is a treatment to cleanse infections inside your tooth by drilling it from the top of the crown or behind the tooth, the treatment is not as painful as imagined, and the recovery isn’t lengthy. However, your concerns about eating after receiving this treatment undoubtedly need attention because your tummy starts growling after spending about 90 minutes in the dentist’s chair, making you want to rush out to the nearest restaurant requesting a hot cappuccino.
When undergoing root canal treatment, the area around the affected tooth and gums are numbed, and the numbness will likely remain with you for at least three to four hours after the procedure. Therefore you must refrain from certain activities until the numbness wears off entirely to prevent unnecessary complications in your mouth that might require additional treatments soon after receiving intensive therapy on an infected tooth.
How Long After a Root Canal and I Have Hot Drinks?
You might yearn for the hot cappuccino soon after completing root canal treatment. However, it helps if you remember the numbness in your mouth and avoid having your favourite beverage until the numbness disappears. Trying to have hot drinks immediately after the process can cause burns in your mouth and throat because your mouth remains insensible to temperatures. While you can have beverages at room temperature, you must refrain from having hot drinks until you can feel your cheeks and gums near the treated tooth and the mouth before considering scorching beverages.
Undergoing an intensive treatment like a root canal shouldn’t cause concerns in your mind about the foods to eat after root canal treatment. You can undoubtedly have the foods listed in this article about three hours after the procedure.
If you cannot control hunger pangs for long after receiving your treatment, you can consider having soft foods, including bananas, pears, mangoes, peaches, applesauce, and tooth smoothies. However, you must ensure that you do not try to bite with the treated tooth and have the foods on the opposite side of the mouth. You can also include yogurt, milkshakes, and ice cream without chunks and nuts, pudding, eggs, soup at room temperature, tofu, mashed vegetables like potatoes and cauliflower, sushi, hummus, et cetera.
Immediately after receiving this treatment, you might notice swelling in your cheeks; you can have foods like fruit smoothies, soft cereal and yogurt. The foods will satisfy hunger pangs while soothing the area of your mouth where the treated tooth exists.
What Should I Avoid after a Root Canal?
The dental clinic Delta recommends that you avoid some foods and drinks after receiving root canal treatments.
You must avoid crunchy foods such as carrots, corn on the cob, apples, and other similar foods because they can damage the treated tooth and cause pain and discomfort. You must also avoid chewy foods like gum, candy, and most pieces of bread because these foods can pull out the temporary filling.
Hard foods like ice and nuts are best avoided because they can damage the tooth to cause unnecessary pain around the surgical site. In addition, avoiding scorching foods besides the spicy variety helps prevent sensitivity to help you recover comfortably.
You are also restricted from having alcohol because it can increase bleeding and cause infections at the surgical site. If you smoke, you must stop smoking 24 hours before your treatment and stay away from tobacco or at least 48 hours after the treatment. It would be better to quit the habit altogether because, besides impacting your overall health, the chemicals in tobacco also delay your recovery to leave you with additional discomfort.
After treating your tooth with a root canal, you must aim to recover quickly and get it restored with a dental crown as soon as possible. The repair helps with the tooth’s functionality by strengthening it to enable you to use the tooth for as long as you want so long as you care for it as recommended by your dentist.
Besides eradicating an infection from within your tooth, root canal procedures help you preserve the natural tooth without needing extractions but require you to adopt some preventive measures soon after receiving the therapy.
If undergoing root canal therapy from Precision Dentistry, you receive comprehensive after-care instructions from the dentist on caring for your tooth and the foods and beverages you can have or must avoid soon after the treatment. If you want more details from the professional kindly do not hesitate to inquire because they will gladly support you.