root canal treatment - NHS and private costs & pros and cons

welshdent

A dark tooth is not a symptom of a root filling and the root filling itself is not designed to deal with it. In an ideal world the steps taken would help to stop it happening but ultimately all the root filling is doing is removing dead nerve tissue and bacteria so as to remove the tooth as being a source or potential source of infection.

There_Goes_Trouble

Can I ask a question too please?

I had root canal treatment quite a few years ago and was never informed that my tooth wouldn't last.... but putting that aside, I now have two teeth next to each other that have broken, they've basically just crumbled. It's the one next to the wisdom tooth, and the one next to that (don't know the proper names sorry!) They broke quite a while ago and so far I've not done anything about it as I can no longer afford the private practice I used to go to, and all the local NHS dentists aren't taking new patients at the moment.

I would like to get them sorted, but as they're not causing me any pain at the moment I've put it on the back burner. I know I really should get them sorted, but am worried that they'll just have to be extracted and I don't want a big gap there.

Is this something I should prioritise? Am I going to cause more problems by not getting them sorted? What would my options be regarding treatments? Would an NHS dentist just go for the cheapest option or would I get a choice in treatments?

Thanks for any advice.

coldstreamalways

To be honest, questions like this have been answered hundreds of times on this board. If you don't mind being at risk of abscess/infection, then leave it. No one on here can advise you as no one can see your teeth.

Cruelemort

Morning all,

I have recently had a tooth infection and was told i had to have a root canal (i broke the tooth a few years back and have had a couple of infections since then), the checkup cost £16 on the NHS and then the root canal cost £45, they subtracted the 16 from the 45 when i had the root canal so i only paid £31 on that day, however i do not know if this is standard NHS practice or just my dentist...

Basically the infection did not go away, the dentist told me the root canal had failed and i would need to get it done by the root canal specialist. They only do it once on the NHS and so the specialist is private and it looks like it is going to cost me between £350 and £500 to get it done again.

My question is does anybody know if i am entitled to a refund from the NHS root canal as it failed and i am now having to spend significantly more to get it done privately?

Cheers

Toothsmith

You're not.

Root canals don't always work, and in all honesty, you have a good dentist to give it a go on the NHS - many don't.

The work has been done, and the payment fairly taken. It's just a shame it's not worked.

welshdent

Agree entirely with toothsmith. Cruel just because it has not worked with that dentist does not mean a specialist wont get it to work - depends how important it is to you to keep your tooth.With the use of a microscope to show up the bits the naked eye can not see that may allow the tooth to be cleaned out more thoroughly

Cruelemort

Ok many thanks toothsmith and welshdent, answers my question perfectly.

I shall keep my fingers crossed on it working second time! :-)

Hermia

Cruelemort wrote: »

Ok many thanks toothsmith and welshdent, answers my question perfectly.

I shall keep my fingers crossed on it working second time! :-)

Second time root canals have a lower success rate. I had one done and it lasted two years. The problem is root canals make the tooth more brittle. Has the dentist talked through the odds to you? I was quoted 70% chance of success for my second one.

j.a.m

Dear Toothsmith,

I wonder if you can help me.

I have a hard 'lump' at the bottom of my lower left molar (no.19), on the tongue-side of my gum. I have not always had this; I've been aware of it probably for about a year, but it didn't appear over night. There isn't one on the matching opposite side. It does not hurt to touch it. I have had a 'deep' filling on the tooth in front of it.

My (private) dentist (who is lovely, and professional) tells me it's nothing to worry about, but I recently had a crown replaced on this tooth and it just doesn't feel 'right'. He can tap it and there's no pain, but I feel like there's some kind of 'pressure'.

Have you by any chance come across anything like this before?

Thank you.

welshdent

It depends on why the root filling failed in the first place hermia. As I mentioned before about a microscope - a tooth particularly a molar one are insanely complex. I had one that I did today. At first glance it was fairly straightforward and with virgin eyesight which most NHS dentists operate with it had 3 tight root canals. However I have a microscope and it was clear to me that this was not the whole picture. There was a big calcification called a pulp stone in the way. When this was removed there were 4 canals that were much bigger than seen with just eyesight alone. Few dentists have a microscope as they cost £10K +++ and the NHS places a grand total of £0 pounds value on doing the treatment. (I am just a geek). The likelyhood is that without a microscope the success rate of that tooth first time around would be very low because half the inside of the tooth would not have been cleaned out so further pain and infection would have carried on. Now if I was faced with that scenario I would be pretty confident that once the rest of the tooth was cleaned out it would work properly. The person electing to do the re root treatment is the best person to advise on likely outcomes as believe me ... they wont do it if they dont think it is worthwhile. I know all the specialists near me are insanely booked up because so many root fillings get referred to them. They have enough to do without taking on lost causes.