Why Does Root Canal Treatment Fail?

Root canal treatment is a preventive treatment that has a success rate of up to 98% when performed under appropriate conditions and prevents tooth extraction. However, root canal treatment may fail due to many different reasons such as some teeth having very complex root canal anatomy, not all root canals being detected during treatment, inadequate disinfection procedures, root canals being filled shorter or longer than they should be, the filling or prosthesis made on the teeth that have undergone root canal treatment being incompatible with the tooth or the deterioration of its harmony with the tooth and surrounding tissues over time.

What are the signs that indicate root canal treatment has failed?

• Having a spontaneous pain that continues for a long time after root canal treatment,
• Pain during biting on a tooth that has undergone root canal treatment for a long time,
• The tooth that has undergone root canal treatment starts to wobble or the existing wobble increases,
• If there are symptoms such as swelling in the mouth or on the face at the level of the tooth that has undergone root canal treatment, your previous root canal treatment may have failed.
• Even without any of the symptoms mentioned above, your previous root canal treatment may have failed. In some cases, although there may be serious bone loss due to infection that develops due to improper and inadequate root canal treatment, patients may not have symptoms such as pain or swelling because a balance has been established between the body system and the infection that develops due to root canal treatment. This does not eliminate the need for renewal of root canal treatment. Therefore, root canal treatments that do not cause symptoms in the patient but are determined to be unsuccessful in clinical and radiographic examinations should be renewed in order to stop the progression of infection and bone destruction.

By having your root canal treated teeth examined, you can determine exactly whether the treatment has been unsuccessful.

If root canal treatment fails, is it necessary to extract the tooth?

When root canal treatment fails, the first treatment to consider is not tooth extraction. Today, with the development of materials and equipment used in root canal treatment, treatment of teeth that have failed root canal treatment can be renewed, achieving success rates of up to 85%.

How is root canal treatment renewal (Retreatment) performed?

The old upper filling or prosthesis, if any, of the tooth that needs root canal treatment is first removed. Then, the old root canal filling is removed and the canals are disinfected again. After the old root canals are removed, if there are signs of serious infection, additional disinfectants are placed in the root canals and the tooth is monitored by closing it with a temporary filling for approximately 7-14 days. After the signs of infection are completely eliminated, the root canals of the tooth are filled with appropriate materials, just like in the previous root canal treatment. If the desired level of disinfection is achieved in the tooth after the removal of the old root canals, the root canal treatment renewal process can be successfully performed even in just one session. After the root canal treatment renewal process, a filling is placed on the teeth or, if necessary, a prosthesis is made and the teeth are restored to oral function.

Can symptoms such as pain and swelling occur during and after the root canal treatment?

The root canal renewal procedure does not even require anesthesia most of the time because the living tissues in the root canal are removed during the previous treatment. Therefore, it is not routinely foreseen that serious pain will occur during the procedure. There is a risk of pain after the root canal renewal procedure, as in other dental treatments. The pain decreases and disappears after 2-3 days after a root canal treatment procedure performed under ideal conditions.