Great Dental Care Tips for Every Person

If your root canal treatment isn't as successful as your endodontic dentist expects, the dentist will perform an apicoectomy on your tooth. An apicoectomy is a simple dental surgery used to remove infected tissues from around one or more teeth roots. Although the surgery isn't as in-depth as a complete root canal treatment, you may have several questions about it. Here's why your surgery failed and how an apicoectomy corrects it.

Why Did Your Root Canal Surgery Fail?

Root canal treatments typically require the endodontist to remove infected pulp tissues from the inside of your damaged tooth. The dentist replaces the infected tissues with gutta-percha and caps the tooth with a porcelain or metal crown. Sometimes, bacteria escape the infected pulp tissues and spread to the tooth's roots. In other cases, a large presence of mouth bacteria can cause a secondary infection in the treated tooth.

Keep in mind that your root canal treatment didn't fail because of the crown or gutta-percha. Your crown and gutta-percha reinforce the structure of your tooth, as well as protect it against bacteria. Because your mouth contains over 700 different types of microorganisms, the treated tooth is still in danger of an infection.

The previous infection in your tooth weakened and inflamed the gum tissue around it. Even after root canal surgery, these tissues are still vulnerable to a bacterial infection until they heal properly.

Your endodontist probably instructed you to rinse your mouth in salt water to minimize the presence of bacteria and inflammation in the tooth. Salt contains enzymes that protect your tooth after surgery. For instance, the enzymes will:

• Reduce swelling in the gums surrounding your tooth
• Decrease pain in the tooth
• Decrease redness and inflammation in the tooth

If you didn't follow your dentist's home care instructions precisely to keep infection out of the treated tooth, you inadvertently caused a secondary bacterial infection to occur. 

What Happens to Your Treated Tooth After Bacteria Infect It?

Abscesses describe small pockets of pus that develop at the end of teeth roots. The pus inside the pockets typically contain a mixture of bacteria, white blood cells and lymph fluid cells. The mixture varies in color but yellowish-white is the most common color you see when abscesses bursts open.

If you see another color, such as red or black, the abscess in your tooth's root most likely contains blood. Bloody pus is a dental emergency, so contact your endodontist immediately for treatment. The infection has spread to the jawbone below your root canal treated tooth. It places your treated tooth in danger of an extraction, which requires the dentist to remove it completely.

There are other critical symptoms you need to report to your dentist, including:

• Throbbing or searing pain in the treated tooth
• Oozing pus of any color, especially red or black
• Swelling in the jaw that contains the treated tooth

In addition, immediately tell your dental provider if you experience headaches, earaches and sinus infections. The bacterial infection in the abscess may have spread to other areas of your face and head. An apicoectomy is critical at this stage. 

What Should You Expect During Your Apicoectomy?

An apicoectomy is a minimally invasive dental procedure used to remove abscesses from teeth roots. The provider will also remove the tissues surrounding the abscess to keep the infection from happening again.

You won't feel any discomfort during the procedure. The dentist eliminates your pain by applying a numbing ointment directly to the gum tissue covering the tooth. Afterward, the dentist injects an anesthetic into the gums. The anesthetic suppresses the nerves in that area, which prevents them from relaying pain messages to your brain.

Although apicoectomy techniques vary for each endodontist, your dentist may place a small incision at the base of the infected tooth to remove the abscess. In any case, your provider will discuss his or her methods in detail before moving forward with your apicoectomy.

If you have additional questions about why your root canal treatment failed or why you need an apicoectomy, contact your endodontist or someone like John P Poovey DMD PC right away.