Endodontic Re-Treatment
Many patients with inflamed, diseased, or damaged pulp tissue who receive root canal treatment are able to heal properly, and their tooth function is restored. Nonetheless, a tooth that receives root canal therapy may not heal as required. Often, the tooth becomes painful, or the infection comes back after some time. Carson City Endodontics gives you a second chance to treat and save your tooth with our root canal re-treatment in Carson City, NV.
The additional procedure is able to support the proper healing of the affected tooth. Talk to our endodontist about re-treatment or root canal repair if your previously treated tooth develops pain or discomfort months or years later, after the root canal treatment.
Why You Would Need a Root Canal Re-Treatment?
As may occasionally happen with any dental procedure, a tooth could fail to heal as expected after being treated. This scenario occurs due to various reasons. You could have curved or narrow canals that were not properly treated during your initial root canal procedure. It could also be that the crown placement or other restoration got delayed after the endodontic treatment, allowing reinfection to occur.
Furthermore, if a leaky crown or restoration allowed saliva and bacteria to contaminate the inside of a tooth, then a reinfection could follow. Sometimes, even a tooth that successfully healed after the initial root canal could be impacted by new dental issues, such as decay that exposes a root canal filling to bacteria or a cracked, broken, or loose crown or filling that subjects the treated tooth to new infection.
Endodontic Re-Treatment Procedure
If you and our endodontist agree on re-treatment, we reopen the tooth in order to access the filling material of the root canal. Just like in root canal treatment, we place a small protective sheet or a dental dam over the area, isolating the tooth so that it remains clean and saliva-free while we conduct the re-treatment procedure.
In most cases, restorative materials, such as crowns placed on the tooth, have to be disassembled and taken out to give way to the root canals. We then clean and cautiously inspect the tooth’s interior using magnified images to look for additional canals and irregular canal anatomy that could have caused the failed root canal treatment.
Once we have cleaned and disinfected the canals, our dental specialist fills and seals the spaces. A temporary filling is done on the tooth. Should there be unusually narrow or calcified and blocked canals, we may suggest apicoectomy. This endodontic surgery allows our endodontist to make an incision, allowing the tooth end or tip to be sealed. Once we are done with the re-treatment, you will return to our office for new crown placement for enhanced protection and to restore the tooth’s full function.
We will continue to closely monitor the re-treatment to make sure that reinfection doesn’t recur. We will book you for follow-up appointments and provide aftercare instructions.
If you are seeking to get your root canal repaired again or fix an old one, visit Carson City Endodontics for evaluation. Re-treatment of an inflamed or diseased root canal can only be performed by a qualified endodontist. Contact us at 775-871-1177 to book an appointment or speak to a friendly and caring endodontist in Carson City, NV.