Non-Healing Root Canal: What You Should Know

1 December 2014
Categories: Dentist, Blog

According to WebMD, root canals are successful 95% of the time. However, there is a slim chance that complications may develop with your procedure. Here is what you should know to help you avoid or deal with being one of the 5% of root canal patients whose root canals do not heal the first time:

Cause of Delayed Healing

There several reasons your root canal treatment may not heal in time. Some of them include:

Eating with the injured jaw – Even with the uninjured jaw, you should restrict yourself to soft foods that are neither too hot nor too cold. Otherwise, your weak tooth may fracture.
Smoking – It reduces the oxygenation of the injured tissues, which delays the healing process.
Poor oral hygiene – Root canal treatment is used to remove bacteria and decayed tissues. If you don't take care of your teeth well, then may just reintroduce the bacteria into your restored teeth and cause further damage.
Eating lots of sugary food – Bacteria thrives on sugar. The more sugary foods you eat, the more the bacteria in your mouth will have to eat.

What to Expect

If your root canal treatment doesn't heal, then there is a high possibility that you will experience pain (mild or severe) long after your tooth should have healed. The pain may or may not be accompanied by swelling. Some people don't even experience any symptom at all; they just discover their root canal failure during routine or follow-up x-rays.

Whatever you experience, you will be glad to know that most of these situations resolve themselves without too severe complications. It is possible that all you may need to deal with the problem are painkillers and antibacterial treatments.

Nevertheless, you should see your dentist in case you experienced prolonged pain or swelling after a root damage. The dentist will examine your tooth and prescribe a suitable cause of action. For example, he or she may:

Prescribe pain and antibacterial medications
Clean your teeth surgically
Retreat your infected teeth
Extract the damaged tooth if all else fails

As you can see, there are many options for dealing with non-healing root canals. Therefore, you shouldn't be discouraged from having the procedure if your dentist has advised it. If you have any other concerns, you should tell your dentist about them so that he or she can use his or her professional knowledge to deal with them.

About Me

When I was a child and teenager, I always left the dentist's office with the great feeling of having no cavities. When I went away to college out-of-state, I had to switch to a new dentist in my area. It seemed like I was suddenly getting cavities and started wonder what my new dentist "was doing wrong". When I spoke to my mother about it, she reminded me that the reason I never had cavities when I was living it home was because she always made sure my siblings and I brushed and flossed daily and didn't eat too much sugar. I then realized that my late-night study sessions drinking sugary soda and my suddenly bad brushing habits were the true causes of my cavities. I have since learned a lot more about dental health I am eager to share with anyone who needs the advice!