Endodontic Retreatment

With the appropriate care, your teeth that have had endodontic treatment will last as long as other natural teeth. Yet, a tooth that has received treatment may fail to heal or pain may continue to exist. Sometimes, the pain may occur months or years after treatment. If so, the doctors of San Francisco Dental Group may need to perform Endodontic Retreatment.

Improper healing may be caused by:

  • Curved or narrow canals that were not treated during the initial treatment.
  • Complicated canals that 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 that did not prevent saliva from contaminating the inside of the tooth.
tissues can sometimes continue to be inflamed after a root canal
Inflamed Tissue
fillings can be removed to gain access to the root canals
Filling Removed
root canals can be cleaned again to remove remaining infection
Canals Cleaned
new root filling material can be placed into a tooth's canals
Root Material Placed
teeth can be restored by placing a new root canal filling
Filling Restored
a tooth can be fully healed after new root canal filling placed
Healed Tooth

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.
Call San Francisco Dental Group at 888-270-0610 with questions and to schedule an appointment.

Once retreatment has been selected as a solution to your problem, the doctors will reopen 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 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 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.