Root canal treatment

[brightnearly]

I've recently been to my NHS dentist with a bad tooth. He took out a filling, found decay underneath and offered to perform a root canal treatment. He started the treatment then and there, booked me in for the follow-up appointment two weeks later.
Then it turned out that he could neither see the tip of the root on the x-ray, nor get at it (despite me still having feeling in the tooth when he cleaned it out) claiming that there was "some kind of blockage".
Then I got an ultimatum: Either close the tooth, knowing that it might not have been cleaned properly, put a crown on and hope for the best, or go private, pay ten times as much and get it done properly.

Is this reasonable or am I right to be shocked?

This is par for the course in NHS dentistry I'm afraid. They don't have the budget to perform 'proper' root canal surgery (my old dentist used to do NHS and private dentistry, and told me they have two sets of tools for root canals, but have to use the cheaper ones for NHS patients!). If roots are bendy at the end (which they often are) then only a private orthodontist will have the tools to clean them properly.

Having said that, I have had two NHS root canals with the above caveats that they might fail, and so far (touch wood) both have been fine.

Thanks for the reply, Meg, very interesting. But I'm still shocked! Proper dental treatment should not be a luxury - I could get really worked up about this. But I hope your teeth will continue to be fine!

www.dentalfearcentral.org/faq/root-canal/
This may shed lots of light on why paying for a private endodontist or a general dentist with extra time, training and equipment will usually have a better outcome for your tooth.

I also answered in your other thread. If he has started doing it on the NHS he should finish it to the best of his ability and you could make a GDC complaint if you wanted. They can't do anything if patients don't complain.

I think putting a crown on it would be inappropriate treatment if he knows the root canal has not been done properly so that was advice which was not in your best interests and the GDC would not be happy with that.
Even privately in a specialist's hands even it is better to wait to ensure root canal has settled before doing a crown.

www.dentalfearcentral.org/faq/root-canal/