Endodontic Retreatment

Occasionally a tooth that has undergone endodontic treatment fails to heal or pain continues despite therapy. Although rare, sometimes a tooth initially responds to root canal therapy but becomes painful or diseased months or years later. When either of these situations occur, the tooth often can be maintained with a second endodontic treatment. During a retreatment, the old filling material in the root canals is removed and the inside of the tooth is thoroughly cleaned again, looking for new infection or additional nerve canals that were not found previously. New filling material is then placed in the root canals. Success for this treatment can still be very good, but may be slightly less than initial root canal therapy.