Endodontic Retreatment

With the appropriate care, endodontic treatment may allow your tooth to last as long as your other natural teeth. However, a tooth that has received endodontic treatment may fail to heal or pain may continue to exist. Sometimes, the pain may occur months or years after treatment. If so, endodontic retreatment may be needed.

Improper healing may be caused by:

• Curved or narrow canals were not treated during the initial treatment.
• Complicated canals 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 did not prevent saliva from contaminating the inside of the tooth.
• New decay which exposes the root canal filling material, causing infection.
• A cracked or loose filling or crown which exposes the tooth to new infection.

Once retreatment has been selected as a potential solution to your problem, the doctor will reopen your tooth to gain access to the root canal filling material.  The doctor then cleans the root canals and carefully examines the inside of the problematic tooth. Once cleaned, the  root canals are again sealed.

At this point, you will need to return to your dentist as soon as possible in order to have a new crown or restoration placed on the tooth to restore full functionality.