Your Second Root Canal
Will you need another treatment or another surgery?
A root canal can fail for many reasons. A tooth can become infected again if your dentist did not clean all of the root canals. Bacteria can seep inside the tooth if a filling or a crown breaks or leaks. A second root canal treatment usually takes more time than the first one. Your dentist will remove the crown, post, core, and filling material before a second root canal can be administered. In some cases, people who need a second treatment have infections that are already difficult to eradicate. Since a second root canal is more complicated than an initial one, it usually takes more time and costs more money.
There are times where a second root canal can become very difficult to perform. For instance, there are cases where it may be too risky to remove a post and a core. The post in the tooth may be cemented very tightly. If this is the case then the tooth may be injured in the process. Your dentist may decide to do endodontic surgery instead. This surgery will allow the dentist to get inside the root of the tooth from the bottom instead of from the top. Your dentist will not touch the crown of the root and the retreatment of the root canal will occur through the root.
Endodontic surgery is done at the dentist's office. First, you will receive anaesthesia in order to numb the area. Then, your dentist will make a small cut in the gum area near the tooth. Your dentist will clean out the infected tissue around the tip of the root or at the apex. Then, your endodontist will shave off the tip of the root in a process called apicoectomy. The endodontist will clean the inside of the canal from the root end. Then, the endodontist will put a filling in the end of the root. Finally, the cut is stitched.
Endodontic surgery is successful eighty five percent of the time so if the surgery does not get rid of the infection, your tooth must be extracted.