What To Expect With Root Canal

If you have been referred by your dentist to our office for a root canal procedure, we know you may have many questions about what to expect. You are always welcome to phone us with specific queries, but we've assembled this FAQ of root canal information for easy reading.

We are concerned not only about your dental health and endodontic treatment needs, but also about your right as a patient to make the treatment decision that you feel is best for you. Our commitment to you is to provide you with detailed and complete information about your dental needs as we diagnose them. We will share our diagnostic processes with you, and invite and welcome all of your questions regarding your treatment.

Towards this aim of a mutual sharing of information, we feel it is important to advise you of the reasonably foreseeable risks of endodontic therapy. The following is important information you should consider to aid your treatment decision:

• Root canal therapy is a procedure designed to retain a tooth that may otherwise require extraction. Root canal therapy has a very high degree of success. However, it is a biological procedure, and therefore, results cannot be guaranteed.
 

• Approximately 5% to 10% of teeth that have undergone root canal therapy may require retreatment or root-end microsurgery.
 

• Approximately 5% of endodontically treated teeth may fail and require extraction, despite our best efforts.
 

• Following root canal therapy it is normal to feel some tenderness in the area over the next few days, this part of the natural healing process. These symptoms are temporary and are usually resolved with over-the-counter pain medications.
 

• Final restoration (crown) of the tooth that has undergone root canal therapy is essential to root canal success and retention of the tooth. A final restoration should be done by your restorative dentist.