Endodontic Retreatment

With the appropriate care, your teeth that have had endodontic treatment will last as long as other natural teeth. At Alpharetta Endodontics, we are often referrred patients with teeth that were previously endodontically treated by other doctors and have persistent symptoms or recurrent infections. With the use of a surgical microscope, we can address missed canal anatomy and resolve your symptoms.

Improper healing may be caused by:

• Curved or narrow canals were not treated during the initial treatment.
• Complicated canals 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 did not prevent bacteria in saliva from contaminating the inside of the tooth.

In some cases, new problems can influence a tooth that was successfully treated:

• New decay can expose a root canal filling material, causing reinfection.
• A cracked or loose filling or crown can expose the tooth to recurrent infection.

Once retreatment has been selected as a solution to your problem, we 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. We will now clean your canals and carefully examine the inside of the problematic tooth under a microscope. 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.