It is rare for a tooth that has had a root canal to need further treatment. However, this does sometimes occur. If your tooth has had previous root canal therapy but becomes painful or has swelling it is imperative to contact our endodontist. Often general dentists will conclude that the original root canal didn’t “take” and recommend extraction and the placement of an expensive and time-consuming implant. There is always a reason for the original treatment to have failed and a skilled endodontist can usually diagnose the cause of the failure and correct it by retreating the tooth. Quite often the original treatment did not adequately clean the canals, leaving some tissue that can be reinfected. Retreating the canals can clean any residual tissue that can be the cause of the infection. It is also very common to find that the tooth has extra canals that were not found in the first treatment and treating these uncleaned canals will cure the problem. Dr. Ray Gillespie has years of experience and uses advanced techniques such as 3D scanning of the tooth to help locate these anomalies and correct the problem.
If you have a tooth that has had root canal treatment and have been told it needs to be extracted, be sure to have it evaluated by Dr. Gillespie before it is taken out. When the tooth is gone, the only options are no tooth or a dental implant.
For more details about root canal retreatment in Fort Worth and Granbury, Texas, call Trinity Endodontics and schedule an appointment.