Surgery can help save your tooth
Surgery may be used in diagnosis. If you have persistent symptoms but no problems appear on your x-ray, your tooth may have a tiny fracture or canal that could not be detected during nonsurgical treatment. Surgery allows the endondontist to examine the root of your tooth, find the problem and provide treatment.
Calcium deposits can make a canal too narrow for the cleaning and shaping instruments used in nonsurgical root canal treatment to fully clean and fill the root. Endodontic surgery may be required to completely clean and seal the remainder of the canal.
If a tooth that has undergone root canal fails to heal, the tooth may become painful or diseased months or even years after successful treatment. Surgery may help save your tooth.
Surgery may also be performed to treat damaged root surfaces or surrounding bone.
Apicoectomy
The most common surgical procedure that can save a tooth is called apicoectomy, or root-end resection. When inflammation or infection persists in the bony area around the end of your tooth after a root canal procedure, an apicoectomy may be necessary.
During an apicoectomy, the endodontist opens the gum tissue near the tooth to see the underlying bone and to remove any inflamed or infected tissue. The very end of the root is also removed. A small filling is placed to seal the end of the root canal and a few stitches or sutures are placed in the gum to help the tissue heal properly. The bone heals around the end of the root over a period of months.
Hemisection
This procedure consists of removal of one half of the tooth to remove the damaged bone and any damaged root or crown. The remaining half is restored.
Root Amputation
A dental root amputation is the surgical removal of a tooth’s root. This surgery may be necessary to save the remaining roots of the tooth and the tooth itself if the root cannot be healed.
What are the alternatives to surgery?
Often, the only alternative to surgery is extraction of the tooth. The extracted tooth must then be replaced with an implant, bridge, or removable partial denture to restore chewing function and to prevent adjacent teeth from shifting. These alternatives may require procedures on adjacent healthy teeth and endodontic surgery is usually the more cost effective option for maintaining your oral health. Nothing is as good as a natural tooth.
