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

Toothsmith

As you rightly say - I really can't say!!!!!

The best person to ask would be the specialist that you are referred to.

It would not be in his interests to charge £600 for something that is bound to fail very quickly - it wouldn't do his reputation any good. Be sure to ask him how he rates the chances of success though. You can still say 'No' at the initial consultation.

He should have lots of time for your questions at his price bracket!!!!!

Vashti

I got free NHS treatment when I was preggers and until the baby was six months ...has that changed?

Savvy_Sue

FWIW, DH and I have both had back teeth removed because of root canal failure, in fact reading your first post it could have been me writing it - until you said you got pregnant! :rotfl:

If it won't show, you could just have it taken out. We don't regret it: I don't notice where his has gone, and if he notices where mine has gone he's too polite to say!

JennyW_2

I too am another victim of root canal failure

Mine was done originally about 15 years ago. 5 years ago I started getting toothache over the tooth concerned.

I have a very good NHS dentist who is highly recommended for root canal treatment and he advised that it had failed and would need doing again. Anyway I underwent it all again however my dentist did warn me that once they have failed then there is always a chance that the 2nd attempt wont be 100%.

Anyway, everything was fine for a couple years until 3 years ago I started getting toothache again Went back, had x-rays etc and it had failed. The dentist advised to have the tooth extracted and due to the location of the tooth, something to do with the sinuses, I had to go to hospital.

So off I went to hospital and in December 2005 I had the tooth extracted and 6 stitches inserted. Something obviously didn't work out and by January it had failed. I could feel air going up into my sinuses - it was not a nice experience. Anyway went back for an emergency repair and had skin grafted from my cheek over the area. Another 6 stitches too.

too date I'm OK although it's been a long healing process and I'm still not comfortable eating on my left side due to the gap and I am not unable to have a bridge due to the grafting work.

Rambled a bit but that's my story on root canals. I think i'll just have the tooth extracted without all the fuss next time. God forbid it ever happens again.

Toothsmith

Vashti wrote: »

I got free NHS treatment when I was preggers and until the baby was six months ...has that changed?

It's not changed, but it's until the baby is 12 months.

Toothsmith

The recent directive from the Department of Health that all root filling instruments should be disposed of after use is probably going to mean root fillings on the NHS will very soon be a thing of the past.

Epect more referrals to private endodontists, or extractions.

angel

Toothsmith, could you briefly explain what a failed root filling is and does it usually happen on old ones as seems to be the case in the posts above.

I'm just interested.

And just because I fancy a moan to a dentist, I've had THREE old fillings come away in the past week after years of barely any problems. It's just like busses! I had one filled yesterday and the other two will be done tomorrow morning. Grrr.

Toothsmith

A root filling is done when the nerve in the middle of the tooth dies, or the tooth is badly broken in an accident, and the live nerve has become very exposed.

Sometimes, a dentist will find a dead tooth by chance at a check-up, or on a routine x-ray, but often, it comes to light when an infection gives pain. Quite a lot of pain!

A root filling fills up the root space where the nerve used to be, after first cleaning out as much of the infected or dead material as possible. (It is probably impossible to get rid of every last microbe, but we do our best. That is where a specialist will be better than a general dentist, and why a dentist who spends more time and uses things like rubber dam to isolate the tooth will be better than someone who rushes through it at 100mph.

From the patients point of view, a root filling has worked if the tooth stops hurting, and settles down.

Technically, a root filling has worked if, over a period of time, the abscess (seen as a dark area on an x-ray) can be seen to get smaller and disappear.

Sometimes, a tooth settles down (patient thinks it's worked) even though on x-ray, the dark area isn't going away (so it hasn't).

In these cases, one day, it will flare up again. Now - that day may be a very long way off, and the tooth may feel OK for many years, but eventually it will hurt, unless the patient is lucky enough to die of something completely unrelated first!!!

Root fillings that really work will probably last for many years, but these too can fail.

If something goes wrong up at the biting end of the tooth, such as the edges of a crown or filling start to leak, then bacteria are let back into the root system, and infection can begin again.

This is why the quality of your fillings and crowns are so important to the long term survival of your teeth.

The trick is to find a dentist who will spend some time on you and do things well.

Agent_C

Hi Toothsmith,

I'd be grateful for your advice. I had a tooth which abscessed after I developed a fracture in it, probably from grinding my teeth. My dentist tried to fill it several times but it kept getting infected, so he decided to send me for a root canal filling. I had this done at the dental hospital, with a latex dam etc, unfortunately the drill bit snapped off in the root and they were concerned as I have a nickel allergy and the bit contained nickel, so they left it for a week to see if I'd have a reaction.

No reaction occurred so the root filling was completed. Unfortunately within a few weeks it flared up and an x ray showed another abscess, so it was decided it'd have to come out. I had the extraction done at my dentists and it was a horrible procedure - the first dentist could only get bits of the tooth out and a second dentist ahd to help, the whole process took an hour and was painful despite lots of anaesthetic!

Then a few days later the socket became very painful which turned out to be dry socket.

This was all a couple of years ago, and for the past year or so, I've been getting pain at the extraction site. The gum feels tender and the pain spreads to my jaw. I have asked my dentist but they say nothing's wrong and it's probably from grinding my teeth, but the surrounding teeth, which bear the brunt of the grinding, are not painful.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

Toothsmith

That sounds like a real nightmare!

I assume the site has been x-rayed to look for persistant infection/retained bits of root?

What is the dentist suggesting to help with the tooth grinding problem?

If you're doing it hard enough to break teeth, then you really need some sort of bite guard to help protect the rest of your teeth. Pain from the force of grinding can radiate around your mouth - and even your whole head and neck (even into the back sometimes!). So it possibly is a tooth grinding problem that is the core of your pain.