Archive for the ‘Root Canal Treatment’ Category

“I’ve had a root canal treatment performed on one of my front teeth by my dentist 3 months ago but it doesn’t seem to have got any better and it still painful when i bite on it. My dentist has told me I would need an apicectomy(?) or would have to have the tooth removed. I don’t think I’m keen on either option! Is there anything else that can be done?”

Leigh S.    Birmingham

Hi Leigh, without seeing xrays of the tooth in question I can’t give you a full answer. Something I would say is that at St Pauls Dental Practice we will often perform a “re-root canal” treatment before embarking on any more extreme measures. A root canal treatment should involve the complete disinfection of the WHOLE of the root of  the tooth and placement of a dense rubber filling to make sure the root stays disinfected. Here’s an example treated here in Birmingham where a young lady had root canal treatment which didnt work. On the first xray you can see the thin long root filling doesn’t look like to fills the whole space of the root and there is evidence of persisting infection. I retreated this tooth and I’m sure the difference on the second xray is obvious! Hope this helps.

Damien.

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