So I had one of my 6-year molars (that’s what I call 'em; a dentist would call them tooth number 3, 14, 19, 30) crowned and root-canaled last year. The tooth felt worse after both of those procedures. 6 months after the crowning was completed, it still hurts, I can’t chew on it at all. I told the dentist this, she looked surprised, and sent me to the endodontist to get it re-looked at. I went to the endodontist a couple of days ago.
He’s suggesting we REDO the root canal since “something isn’t resolved”.
Well, I suppose it would be nice if we can save the tooth (what’s left of it, that is!) so I don’t have to have that one replaced via implant etc. (the corresponding molar on the other side had to go, a few years ago). On the other hand… extraction costs about 1/4 as much as a root canal, redoing a root canal costs more than the original one did, I’m not convinced it’ll work, and then I’d have to have it extracted also. I’m thinking it would be easier to just withdraw a bunch of cash from the ATM, walk into the bathroom, toss the cash in, and press the lever.
So - not seeking medical advice here (even if you’re a dentist you’re not mine, who I will be seeing in a couple of days). I’m just wondering if anyone else here has been given similar advice and has any anecdotes, success stories, failure stories…
Probably a silly question, but if the first procedure has failed, as you seem to be indicating, why should you have to pay for a second corrective procedure? If you took your car in to be fixed, and then when you got it back it had the same issue, you would expect the garage to make it good gratis, why does this not apply in medical/dental situations?
I’ve just gone through the same thing, and I’ve had to get the tooth extracted in the end after multiple operations, crownings, fillings etc. I’ve never been as happy - constant throbbing pain isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.
I’ve since changed dentists, and the new dentist said he was opposed to root canals, seeing as they often do not work (especially with molars where the root goes really deep), and then you’re in for a lot of unnecessary pain. And out of a lot of cash.
I went through the exact same thing. My dentist actually reccomend that I go to a specialist for the second because of some issues with my roots after the first job that he had done himself.
I made certain that I would not be billed anything for the second procedure. At first, his secretary was resistant to that idea, but I made it clear that they were going to eat the cost–not me.
I had to have an second root canal on a tooth. I was younger then and blithely accepted whatever teh dentist told me I needed to do. But I had complete dental coverage at the time - something like a $60 copay was all that came out of my pocket, so at that time I really bought the “you must save all teeth at all costs” deal.
The second one seems to have worked just fine. Apparently all my tooth luck is above (or below) the gumline. I’ve gotten several comments about long and strong roots. Even had one tooth with 3. I wish their pointy bits above the surface were so hearty!
I got an abscess on a molar that had received a root canal before. I went back in to the same specialist, he looked at it and said that another root canal wouldn’t do any good. So that molar is no more.
I’ve had this happen. The original root canal became infected a couple of years later. I then went to an oral surgeon for an “apico”, basically a surgical root canal. That lasted a couple of years, then it became infected again! This time I went to another oral surgeon, for a “re-apico”, i.e. another one. So far that one’s been good.
Apparently there were some small pieces of root-tip that were tricky to get, according to the second oral surgeon (who wasn’t too pleased with the first surgeon).
Thanks for the replies. I’ll be seeing the dentist (regular one) next Monday for a crown on a different tooth but will be quite loopy due to Halcion (necessary to prevent me from running from the chair in terror), so I wrote up a lengthy email to her this morning; your comments helped me write up that email.
The endodontist did say that “surgery” would not be appropriate if the second root canal fails to help the problem. I guess he probably meant something like the apicoectomy that Arjuna34 mentioned.
I had to get a second one done on the same tooth. I was getting a crown put on and my dentist noticed that my previous root canal was botched and I needed another one before we could proceed with the crown. He found me an endodontist who could take me immediately so I drove over to his office, got it done, and was back at my regular dentist the next week finishing the crown.
The second one was like 10X less painful than the first and took a fraction of the time. The first endodontist I saw (who did the botched root canal) was kind of a tool so it didn’t surprise me his work was shoddy. I have since had a third root canal on a different tooth, and it was also much shorter and smoother than the first.
