What is Root Canal Retreatment and When is it Necessary?

Root canal treatment has a very high rate of success, but as with any medical or dental procedure, infection or inflammation may occur despite our best efforts. In some cases, a root canal retreatment procedure may be the best option to preserve your tooth.

The root canal retreatment procedure consists of reopening your tooth to gain access to the root canal filling material. This restorative material will be removed to enable access to the root canal. The Doctors will now clean and disinfect your canals and carefully examine the inside of the problematic tooth. Once cleaned, the Doctors will fill and seal the canals and place a temporary filling in the tooth.

At this point, you may 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.

Improper healing may be caused by:

• Bacteria that could not be removed during the first treatment.
• 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.
• Fractures of the crown or root.

In some cases, new problems can influence a tooth that was successfully treated:

• New decay can expose a root canal filling material, causing infection.
• A cracked or loose filling or crown can expose the tooth to new infection.