Failed root canal

[AF07]

Had a root canal on one of my upper back teeth (3rd one from the back) about 7/8 years ago.

Started getting some pain a couple of months ago that comes and goes, so far not been major pain but I’m certain it’s been causing headaches.

Dentist did an X-ray and said there was a black spot and diagnosed it as a poor/failed filling, ie the filling didn’t reach the tips of the canal.

He offered to refer me to a specialist to have the root redone or he can remove tooth which I really don’t want, as it’s a major tooth for chewing with.

Has anyone on here had this situation before? To me it seems a simple case of basically redoing the root canal, or am I missing something?

I didn’t have posts or anything else fitted originally, just a straightforward root canal with a filling.

[cavey76]

Had this done about ten years ago. The failure in my case was the dentist at the time drilled through the bottom of the tooth. It wasnt obvious at the time but the result was i kept getting infections in the gum below. Cue change of dentist who suggested complete removal and replace with an implant. It wasnt cheap, circa £1800 at the time, which was partly covered by dental plan through work.

I had the molar replace initially with a titanium pin then over a series of visits a implant tooth was built and fitted. In the ten years it has come off the titanium ping maybe 3 times and needed a quick visit to be replaced but as a low hassle replacement i am quite happy.

getting the pin is in the first place is hellish painful though. YMMV

[AF07]

Thanks for quick reply, hopefully in my case it isn’t anything like that because it’s been fine for last 7/8 years, never had any pain or infections.

Do you mean the pin where the implant fits into? I’ve read everywhere that it’s supposed to be painless! Hopefully don’t have to go down that road though!

[Sheepshanks]

AF07 said:

I’ve read everywhere that it’s supposed to be painless!

Mine was painless. I mean, you can feel it being wound in (makes me shudder to think about it), but no pain.

[fourfoldroot]

You have to balance up the cost of the specialist re root treatment (roughly £800-1000 round here) with the cost of an implant. I would have a consultation with the specialist and ask him the chance of success with the new filling. It may be that if the chances of success of re root filling are poor, it would be better to save your money towards an implant. Also bear in mind the tooth will need a new crown as well probably which will be another £300-500.

[boyse7en]

I've just had a root canal redone.

Cutting a long story short, I had root canal done by NHS dentist. Didn't go well and took ages (as in months) as my roots were "complicated". After final treatment went back to have crown fitted and said it was still a bit painful. Dentist x-rayed and discovered a fourth root which had been missed. Told me I would have to go private and see specialist professor. He redid the whole remove and replace in two visits. Much less painful and the chronic pain is gradually subsiding (he did say it could take weeks/months/years). Going back on Monday for a final.check.

[KingofKong]

I’ve got a failed root canal too, well the tooth has cracked and the upper filling has fallen out.

It hasn’t given me any trouble though, but I stupidly changed dentists when I moved recently and the new guy says to take it out and I agreed with him as he’s the expert.

Fast forward two weeks, he cuts the tooth into two pieces so he can extract it in 2 pieces, assume he then takes out the actual root filling part?

Anyway, he gave me 5 vials of anaesthetic and it still hurt like an absolute bh, so he gave up and now I have to wait for a hospital appointment.

Moral of the story, if it ain’t hurting then leave it alone and the dental trade are the biggest bunch of conmen outside of time share and double glazing.

[AF07]

fourfoldroot said:

You have to balance up the cost of the specialist re root treatment (roughly £800-1000 round here) with the cost of an implant. I would have a consultation with the specialist and ask him the chance of success with the new filling. It may be that if the chances of success of re root filling are poor, it would be better to save your money towards an implant. Also bear in mind the tooth will need a new crown as well probably which will be another £300-500.

The cost isn't an issue to me as such, as I have private dental insurance. It's more a case of what the best solution is, I would much prefer to just have the existing tooth fixed then an extraction and implant. Of course if the chances of re root are poor then I don't have much choice.

Edited by AF07 on Friday 15th January 13:39

[AF07]

KingofKong said:

I’ve got a failed root canal too, well the tooth has cracked and the upper filling has fallen out.

It hasn’t given me any trouble though, but I stupidly changed dentists when I moved recently and the new guy says to take it out and I agreed with him as he’s the expert.

Fast forward two weeks, he cuts the tooth into two pieces so he can extract it in 2 pieces, assume he then takes out the actual root filling part?

Anyway, he gave me 5 vials of anaesthetic and it still hurt like an absolute bh, so he gave up and now I have to wait for a hospital appointment.

Moral of the story, if it ain’t hurting then leave it alone and the dental trade are the biggest bunch of conmen outside of time share and double glazing.

Problem is it is hurting, the pain in the tooth area isn't that bad yet but it's enough for me to know there is an issue which is only going to get worse.

My original canal procedure 8 years ago was completely painless, wasn't even uncomfortable.

[boyse7en]

Going by my experience, having root canal redone has been successful. But obviously take your dentist's advice

[motco]

KingofKong said:

I’ve got a failed root canal too, well the tooth has cracked and the upper filling has fallen out.

It hasn’t given me any trouble though, but I stupidly changed dentists when I moved recently and the new guy says to take it out and I agreed with him as he’s the expert.

Fast forward two weeks, he cuts the tooth into two pieces so he can extract it in 2 pieces, assume he then takes out the actual root filling part?

Anyway, he gave me 5 vials of anaesthetic and it still hurt like an absolute bh, so he gave up and now I have to wait for a hospital appointment.

Moral of the story, if it ain’t hurting then leave it alone and the dental trade are the biggest bunch of conmen outside of time share and double glazing.

I had a totally unnecessary, failed, root canal job done after an unnecessary filling replacement which also failed. I lost a tooth and four hundred quid. A stiff letter later and half the money was refunded. The dentist (calls himself a doctor) has a name which will for ever be mutated into Al Shaftya.

[Skyedriver]

motco said:

I had a totally unnecessary, failed, root canal job done after an unnecessary filling replacement which also failed. I lost a tooth and four hundred quid. A stiff letter later and half the money was refunded. The dentist (calls himself a doctor) has a name which will for ever be mutated into Al Shaftya.

Think his wife was the "dentist" I went to.

I've recalled this before but I had a bit of toothache upper molar about two year ago and it had been going on for a fortnight.
Dentist decided it was rot underneath a crown on the LOWER jaw.and removed the crown then started hacking away at the tooth to do a root canal filling. Apparently this was needed before a crown was done (!?).
Three further extremely painful visits to do the canal fillings; she decided there were three root canals and continued hacking away trying to find the third before deciding to give up as there was very little tooth left. Ended up with a splodge of filling material over what was left and perpetual tooth ache ever since. I am prepared to put up with the ache now rather than go back for her to do further damage.

[bristoltype603]

A friend of mine who's a retired dentist told me that you should always get an endodontist to do a root canal. They have access to much better technology than a general dentist will. And obviously root canals are their full time job so they get plenty of practice.

[cavey76]

AF07 said:

Thanks for quick reply, hopefully in my case it isn’t anything like that because it’s been fine for last 7/8 years, never had any pain or infections.

Do you mean the pin where the implant fits into? I’ve read everywhere that it’s supposed to be painless! Hopefully don’t have to go down that road though!

fair point made by others. Not the insertion of the pin itself but the general procedure. Think i was in the dentist chair for an hour plus and the remaining tooth had to be removed then the pin inserted into the gum/jaw. You feel it for the rest of the day but fine by the next day.

I lucked out with my latest dentist who teaches at a school of dentistry so he was comparatively cutting edge for ten years back in NI. He was very critical of the poor root canal treatment i had had previously but from this thread it looks like that is a thing.

Anyway implant is comparatively trouble free.

[TVR1]

OP you may note my thread from a week or so ago. One of the posters who replied is a dentist.

It seems I had a particulary good dentist as my various crowns etc have lasted 3x expected life.

Go NHS if you can. Course of Treatment is limited to far less than you've been quoted privately. However, you can also upgrade.

My crown has given up again so I'm going in next week to have it fixed.

Regarding your root canal, I've 4. Only 1 has failed. It was filled and smoothed. The emergency dentist commented how good the work was.

If you're anywhere near West London I can give you the Dentist details.

He loves his job, looks a bit like Joseph Mengele crossed with Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man but great at at his work.

[the_stoat]

I was in the same position as you, I went for the referral to an Endodontist and then a crown specialist. All has been fine since (which was 16 years ago). However if I had been braver I may have considered an implant instead as they cost is not too different and a longer lifespan was expected in my case. I would go for the referral and have a really detailed chat about what is best for you with the specialist, in my case was I was given ranges for success and lifespan then left to make a decision without any hard sell.

Good luck.

[TheK1981]

Seems like quite a few of us have issues with failed / poor fillings,

My dentist seemed to talk a good game, said that a filling was damaged so she would replace it, started hacking away and a few seconds later I heard a crunch, then her saying st, she said she needed to check something, in the end I had 3 of them looking, she had managed to crack the back of the tooth,

They managed to fill it, but since then its cracked chunks off every 3 months or so (as its less than a year since the last treatment on it im not getting charged each time), that was 3 years ago, I reckon I need a specialist to get it sorted properly,

[Jon18299]

the_stoat said:

I would go for the referral and have a really detailed chat about what is best for you with the specialist, in my case was I was given ranges for success and lifespan then left to make a decision without any hard sell.

The best bit of advice on here. As a dentist myself who just deals with root canal treatments, this is what I do day in day out.
Best of luck with whatever decision you make OP.

[TwistingMyMelon]

I’ve had two rcs fail , biggest bottom teeth on both sides . I had a very good endo dentist do one , the other was butchered .

I just had them out and nothing replaced , you can’t see the gaps

I don’t miss them, can chew fine . I also lost another tooth above (was a baby tooth with nothing behind)

I could afford implants but can’t face the hassle or appointments

My view for me is if a RC fails it’s the body rejecting the tooth and wants it out

I’ve got a few crowns as well , I find they last 10 years to the dot

My front teeth are part composite as well after I smashed them in half !!

Thankfully I have dental insurance and a great dentist !!

I’d always take advice from specialist

[AF07]

bristoltype603 said:

A friend of mine who's a retired dentist told me that you should always get an endodontist to do a root canal. They have access to much better technology than a general dentist will. And obviously root canals are their full time job so they get plenty of practice.

I did it on the nhs around 8/9 years ago and never gave me a problem until now, I would guess that's a sign of it being done properly and after almost 10 years some problems are to be expected? I would certainly agree with using an endontist for re root canal though.