Is is possible that a root canal would need to be redone 6 years later?

Question:

I had a root canal done about 6 years ago, and the dentist I went to before did not put a crown over the tooth and the tooth cracked and broke. I am going to a new dentist now b/c i discovored my old dentist is looney. My new dentist says that he needs to redo the root canal b/c the tooth is cracked pretty bad. He also does need to build up the tooth to put a crown over it. I am just wondering about having to redo the root canal. (the build up of the tooth and crown makes sense) I thought the root canal would last a lifetime.

Answers:
its very possible. Especially if your tooth has cracked and broken exposing the root canal filling.

Basically the root canal was done to clean out the infection in the hollow part inside the root of your tooth. It is then packed with a rubber material which helps prevent reinfection.

If the root canal filling is exposed, bacteria can grow around the root canal filling causing another infection.

It may not be infected at the moment, but since it has been exposed to your mouths bacteria through the crack, it may be a good idea to remove the old root canal filling and place a new one before spending a fortune to make it strong and pretty with a crown.

Having said that, the success rate of root canal according to a scentific study, is about 75% for the first time, But retreating the rootcanal has a very decreased success rate.

However, a covered root canal filling that has previously been exposed to the mouth from a cracked tooth, would have a very poor prognosis as well.

Other Answers:
No, root canals are not guarenteed. My dentist told me I would need one, and he said it is expensive and not 100%. He said he could pull it instead. I told him to go ahead and pull it, it is less expensive and less painful.

It is possible that a root canal can fail and need to be redone. Most of the time root canals are very successful. Some teeth have very minute accessory canals that a doctor is unable to see or to clean out properly and fill which can result in root canal failure. Remember now that a root canal is still better that pulling a tooth even if you only get 6 years out of it. Tooth replacement can be expensive and can involve things such as dentures, partial and implants plus nothing is as good as your permanent teeth

Any good dentist would have put a temporary crown over that tooth.Your new dentist is right the old one is looney.You can have up to three roots in that tooth and the other dentist probably did a half job.I hope you didn't crack the tooth to bad you can loose it now.Dont worry about the build up of the tooth thats normal .You are just lucky that you still have that tooth.

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Is is possible that a root canal would need to be redone 6 years later?

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