Root canal therapy (RCT) plays an essential role in helping prevent tooth loss, so you can preserve your natural smile. It’s also associated with success rates exceeding 90% and hovering around 97% in some studies.
Rarely, though, root canal therapy doesn’t work as expected, which means you might continue to have symptoms after your treatment. Understanding why root canals fail and how failed RCTs can be corrected is important for feeling more confident about your therapy overall.
The team at Compassionate Endodontists New York/NYC offers state-of-the-art treatment for failed root canals in New York City patients, regardless of where the initial root canal treatment was performed. In this post, learn why root canals fail and how retreatment can help.
Root canal failures are uncommon, but when they happen, there are several underlying issues that could be to blame.
Root canal therapy aims to remove all of the infected material located deep within the interior of your tooth. If even a small amount of material is left behind, the infection can recur, and you can wind up with tooth pain and gum swelling.
Infected tooth material can be missed if you have very narrow canals, canals that branch in multiple directions, or other unusual tooth anatomy that makes complete removal more challenging.
Once the dentist removes the infected material, they clean and seal the canal to prevent future infection. If the sealant fails, your root canal can fail, also.
If your protective crown or the tooth itself is cracked or damaged in other ways, bacteria may re-enter the tooth and cause a future infection.
As with many medical treatments, with root canals, timing of your treatment is critical. If you put off having your root canal or getting a crown after your treatment, bacteria are far more likely to re-enter the tooth and trigger another infection.
If you have tooth pain, swelling, or other symptoms following a root canal, our team performs a thorough evaluation, including diagnostic imaging, to determine what’s causing the failure and to map out a retreatment plan.
Treating a failed root canal follows the same basic steps as your original treatment, but with a few changes based on the cause of the failure.
For a cracked crown or complex canal anatomy, we begin by numbing the tooth. Next, we access the central part of your tooth and carefully remove the root canal filling material, along with any infected material.
We may apply an antibiotic solution to destroy hard-to-reach germs, or we may apply a temporary filling that contains antibiotics, replacing it with a regular filling after a week or so. Next, we clean the canal and reseal it, then place a temporary crown on your tooth until the permanent crown is ready.
Sometimes, the infection is at the very tip of the tooth root. In those instances, we perform an apicoectomy to reach the root tip below the gum, clearing out infected material and then sealing the root tip.
If your root canal failed because of significant trauma to your tooth, root canal retreatment might not be an option. Instead, we may recommend extraction followed by an implant or other restoration.
Root canal therapy is a time-tested, effective way to prevent tooth loss and the complications it can cause. If you think your root canal has failed, we can help. To learn more, call 929-229-0255 or book an appointment online at Compassionate Endodontists New York/NYC today.
