Is it helpful to take ibuprofen before a root canal?

Ask Your Dentist: Ibuprofen can increase bleeding, so your dentist may want you to wait until the end of the visit. It is an excellent drug to block inflammation which is good following root canal treatment.

Ibuprofen: As root canal is perceived as a painful procedure, preop loading with ibuprofen is not a bad thing, provided you are not allergic. I always, in non allergic patients, have patients take ibuprofen before implant surgery and rarely do they describe post op pain.

Not recommended: The recent studies show that the analgesic effects of NSAID administered preoperatively is not effective for postoperative pain. It is pure placebo.

RCT preparation: Most Root Canal Therapy procedures produce little or moderate temporary discomfort after the procedure. Sometimes a strong pain medication is prescribed. Why take pain medication unnecessarily? There is plenty of time for your dentist to prescribe the proper amount of medication once he/she performs RCT as you will be numb for hours and adequate time for the medication to kick in.