Dental advice- does fixing a failed root canal treatment have to be private and not on NHS

[OutofDepth1000]

Hello
I saw dentist on Friday and I have a chronic infection in a tooth that has a failed root canal treatment. I have an abscess on the gum and I’ve been given a course of metronidazole.
The tooth also has a small implement left in after the previous treatment that was done at a dentist years ago and not my current dentist.

My current dentist has referred me to a specialist and has said that this can only be treated privately. He said it could cost anything from £600 upwards. I am really worried as that is a lot of money for me.
Is this something that can’t be done on the NHS?

Previously I had pain in the tooth and a dentist told me the same too (though no infection at th time) but he saw the implement and said that it would require specialist treatment.
Any advice really appreciated.

Unfortunately I've not heard of a re-root canal treatment being done on the NHS.
It's a lot of money, yes. But if you want to save your teeth then it's worth having it done by someone who specialises in endodontics. Also teeth become brittle after this kind of treatmentnso they may recommend a crown, which if course also comes with a price, but you want to save as many of your teeth as possible.

It's that or an extraction. I guess if suitable you could have the tooth replaced by a bridge or implant?

I recently had the same issue.
For 2 months an on/off throbbing and a seemingly sensitive tooth.
Went for check up. Diagnosed failed root canal. It must be a very old root canal because I certainly don't recall it being done!!
Like you a different dentist from many years ago.
My current dentist 're did it for me on NHS after a long course of metronidazole.
I'm 3 weeks on and it's better but not 100%. If this fails I'm looking at private treatment, possibly implant as it's a front tooth!

Is it a 're attempt that's the problem?? I find it odd they won't even try once on NHS. Is he offering you extraction instead. If mine was not at the front I might have opted for extraction.

Can you get a 2nd opinion from a different NHS dental practice. If you can get another NHS dentist??

It’s a second attempt as the first one is a mess. Not even gone half way down the root and they left a tooth file in, I recall it cost me around £300 at the time on the NHS 😲
I would rather keep the tooth as the other one on the opposite side has been extracted. So I guess I’m hanging on to what I can 😆. They did mention extraction as an option though.
I just don’t want to pay all of the money (which I don’t have) and then be in the same position a couple of years down the line, but equally not wanting to lose another tooth.

This happened to me, NHS dentist said she would try to do the root canal but that it would likely need specialist treatment. She had two attempts and said she had taken it as far as she could. I had to go private for them to complete the root canal and fit a crown, at a total cost of £1000.
I don’t think anyone did anything wrong but the NHS just doesn’t always have the specialist root person. I think if I wanted to save the tooth I had to go private. The tooth was fine after and that was in 2011 so I guess they did a good job, fingers crossed

Thank you for getting back to me with your guidance and tips

The files they use for root cancel treatment are extremely fine, and can break off in your root, this means the root filling material won't reach to the tip of the root, leaving it susceptible to bacteria, which will cause infection. I think because the broken instrument in your toothed the reason why theey have referred you to a specialist.

I hope you get it sorted, good luck.

I had a re-treatment done by a private specialist last year - my tooth had only half been filled. The NHS would have extracted the tooth, because it was at the back, so my dentist referred me on. (THe tooth had been root treated about 20 years ago, not by my current dentist.) My understanding is that re-treatment is much more complicated, and unless it’s a front tooth, not covered by the NHS. I paid almost £1,000, then the crown separately at my own dentist. I had to borrow money from my mum, but am glad I saved the tooth.

Yes it does seem to be a massive expense that you either have to pay or lose the tooth. I suppose it’s seen as non essential so not available on NHS. Happy to be corrected on that.

A re root treatment is very hard, and added to that you have the instrument to remove. It would be beyond the scope of an average general dentist. Specialists have microscopes and years of additional training to be able to provide the best possible result. It all depends on how keen you are to keep the tooth.

Okay, so the failed root canal was carried out by an NHS dentist, who left part of the instrument in.

There’s a small chance that you might have some luck by complaining to the NHS or speaking to a personal injury/clinical negligence solicitor: the NHS might be able to help you with the private fees. However this is very fact dependent and it may be that the original dentist was not at fault and so the NHS doesn’t have to help further if an extraction is a sensible option.

Unfortunately if you go through the right channels you will cause the original dentist lots of stress and even though it wouldn’t be their fault you may be able to get compensation so you can pay for the private specialist.

So good advice from above but I hate to encourage litigation.

I have done a very occasional re-treatment on the nhs but generally re-treatment is beyond my skill level, and the chance of success is pretty low. Especially with a fractured file, I think that's beyond the skill level of a general dentist. A specialist migjt be abke to work round the file and get the filling to length, but i think thats beyond a general dentist. It also required equipment that's not covered by the NHS.

Your tooth has had everything the NHS can offer to save it, and it hasn't. A specialist is very skilled, to save that tooth you need someone who is highly skilled, who has trained for years. You need expensive equipment. Skill and euipment costs money. I wish the NHS did cover specialist treatment but it doesn't, it barely covers routine root fillings.

File fracture is a risk of root treatment, it happens. I would be slightly worried as well, if the previous dentist fractured a file that the canals are more tricky, and that would again make it l3ss doable on the nhs