With the appropriate care and timely placement of a final restoration, your teeth that have had endodontic treatment should last as long as other natural teeth. However, a tooth that has received root canal treatment may, unfortunately not heal, and/or pain may continue to exist. Sometimes, symptoms or discomfort may occur months or years after treatment. In these cases, Endodontic Retreatment may be indicated.
Improper healing may be caused by:
- Curved or narrow canals that were not treated during the initial treatment.
- Complicated canals that went undetected during the initial treatment.
- The crown or restoration was not placed within the appropriate amount of time following the procedure.
- The crown or restoration that did not prevent saliva from contaminating the inside of the tooth.
In some cases, new problems can influence a tooth that was successfully treated:
- New decay can contaminate a root canal filling material, causing infection.
- A cracked or loose filling or crown can expose the tooth to re-infection.
Once retreatment is planned as your dental solution, the doctor will reopen your tooth to gain access to the root canal filling material. This material will be removed to enable access to the root canal. The doctor will then clean your canals and carefully examine the inside of the problematic tooth. Once cleaned, the doctors will re-fill and re-seal the canals and place a temporary filling in the tooth.
At this point, you must return to your dentist promptly in order to have a new crown or restoration placed on the tooth to restore full functionality.