What Are Root Canal Headaches

Root canal headaches can be extremely painful; so much so that they may deprive you of your sleep. They are mostly caused due to a flawed root canal treatment, or any new infection that sets in after sometime since placing the crown/completing the root canal treatment. Often, in order to stop the pain, you are forced to resort to a regular dose of pain killers for some relief. However, it is best not to consume pain killers for too long and you should seek medical attention quickly.

To further understand how root canal headaches are caused, here is a brief look at the cause and procedure of root canal treatment itself. Root canal - as the term indicates - is a treatment methodology to cure the infection that sets in the canal of a human tooth. The damage can be the result of an untreated cavity, gum disease or trauma to the tooth, but if left untreated, the infection could affect the nerves and kills the dental pulp, and spread to the other parts of the mouth, destroying the jaw bone and leading to other complications, even to a life threatening extend. If you do not do a root canal treatment, there is not other choice left, but to remove the damaged tooth.

Relief Migraines

The root canal treatment involves removing all the affected pulp, bacteria, puss, and any other decay from the cavities of the damaged tooth and filling the resulting space with neutral, medicated dental materials; so that, after the treatment, the tooth can stand on its own and perform almost all of its normal functions as if it were a live tooth. The entire procedure of root canal treatment may involve 3-4 sittings with an endodontist, and it may cost a few hundred to thousands of dollars, depending upon the complexity of the situation.

If everything goes fine and the root canal treatment nearly perfect, the tooth will cure within a week's time and it will function almost normally as any other tooth. But if the dentist or endodontist, who had performed the cleaning of the canals, failed to cleanout the canals fully or missed a canal by accident, the infection or bacteria within the canals remains, and within few days, it'll again spread to the jaw bone or nearby tooth, resulting in uncontrollable pain. If someone who has recently undergone a root canal treatment feels persisting pain in the operated tooth that increases in intensity with time, it can be a budding root canal headache, and hence must consider consulting a specialist immediately.

The treatment for root canal headache includes antibiotics to kill the inflammation and pain, and a second root canal treatment to cleanout the newly set in infection.

Tail Piece: Root canal headache is more of a common man's slang than a technical term. Medical science often refer it as the headache due to a miscarried out root canal treatment.

What Are Root Canal Headaches

Relief Migraines

Headache Remedies - Gentle Exercises For Pain Relief

When life gets stressful, do you tend to get headaches? If you usually head straight to the medicine cabinet to look for a remedy, you may want to try something different.

When headaches are caused by muscle tension and stress, you can often get relief through gentle, relaxing exercises for the face, head, neck, and breath. Read on to learn these simple techniques for taming headaches and tension.

Relief Migraines

Exercises to Relieve Headaches

Headaches can be caused by tight muscles at the base of the skull, which compress both the blood vessels and the nerves. You can release the tightness by tucking your chin, interlacing your fingers behind your head, and gently pressing your head back into your hands (which provide resistance). Hold for about a count of eight and repeat several times. Often when we have a headache, it feels as if our scalp is too tight. Loosen your scalp by placing your palms at the top of your forehead with your fingers facing back. Slide the flesh of your scalp back and forth over your skull with your hands. Repeat ten or more times, moving your fingers to different places as desired. Habitually holding your head in a forward position (with your ears lined up in front of your shoulders, rather than directly over them) can contribute to chronic headaches. Many of us have this tendency. To counteract it, try this pleasant exercise: Sit upright and bring your shoulders comfortably down and back. Imagine that your head is a balloon, and slowly let it rise up and back, until your ears are directly over your shoulders and your head is level. Do this throughout the day, whenever you think about it, to help retrain yourself to hold your head in a neutral position. Try the facial part of a yoga pose called "The Lion" to help relieve overall facial tension, especially in the jaw. Take a deep breath through the nose. Then open your mouth wide and stretch your tongue out, curling its tip down toward your chin. At the same time, open your eyes wide and look slightly upward; slightly contract the muscles on the front of your throat. Hold this expression while you exhale your breath slowly out through your mouth with a "ha" sound. Repeat several times. Gently tugging on your earlobes can help to relieve facial and jaw tension. To do it, grasp your earlobe, placing your index finger inside the rounded bottom portion of your outer ear and your thumb opposite, at the back of your ear. Gently pull your ear downward and outward, with a smooth motion, rather than a jerk. Hold for about a count of ten. This should feel good, so only pull as far as is comfortable.

Breathing Exercises for Headache Relief

Because stress and tension often contribute to headaches, relaxation techniques can also help relieve the pain. Breath-work is one of the best overall relaxation techniques. Below is a breathing exercise that will allow you to turn off your stress response, relax, and reduce pain.

Breath in through your nose, out through your mouth. Breath deeply--all the way down into the lower third of your lungs. Your belly should expand when you breathe in and return to normal when you breathe out. Place your hands flat on your belly so you can check and make sure that it does that. Begin to breathe more evenly, in a nice, smooth rhythm. Smoothing out your breathing helps you relax and feel grounded. You can count the duration of each breath to help you keep the rhythm even, if it helps. After you've gotten the rhythm of your breath nice and even, slow down the exhale in comparison to the inhale. Breathe in for a certain number of counts, say 6 (or whatever is comfortable for you), then breathe out for up to twice as many counts. Do this for at least a minute and up to five minutes. (If it makes you tense to count, then just estimate.) If at any time you start to feel dizzy or faint, return to normal breathing for a while. Caution: Because breathing exercises can make you feel light-headed, do not do them while driving or operating heavy machinery.

Two More Ridiculously Easy Headache Remedies

Before you move on to more involved remedies, you might also try the following:

Dehydration is a leading headache cause--so drink a glass of water. Abrupt caffeine withdrawal is another common cause of headache pain. Make sure you didn't skip your morning cup of java.

Red Flag Headaches: See Your Doctor Immediately

Some headache symptoms are signs of potentially serious, even life-threatening health problems. Please call your medical doctor immediately if:

you experience extremely intense head pain the headache comes on very suddenly and severely your headache is accompanied by mental confusion your headache is accompanied by unusual symptoms, such as passing out, loss of vision, or difficulty walking or speaking your headache is accompanied by a high fever and/or a stiff neck you are over 50 and the headache is a new kind for you your headache was preceded by head trauma you have a family history of brain aneurysms.

I hope you're feeling better soon!

(c) 2009 -- Nancy Hausauer.

Headache Remedies - Gentle Exercises For Pain Relief

Relief Migraines