Root canal treatment - dental advice

[Purplerose85]

Hey. I’m just looking for some advice? I had an accident 10 years ago whilst living overseas. I slipped (sober - somebody had sprayed sun oil everywhere!) & hit my mouth which caused my tooth to break. Being young, miles from home on my own & in a panic I went with what the dentist advised to have 2 bridges as my tooth wasn’t repairable. Ive always looked after my teeth very well. Fast forward 10 years & I’ve got an unbearable pain, dentist said my teeth & gums looked fine but being pregnant he said it could be related & offered me antibiotics & to be fair the pain went away but 6 months later the pain has returned. I’ve had an x-ray which has showed an infection in my root canal under the bridge (caused by trauma to the nerve) and advised they would need to refer me to a private specialist. I’m now in such a panic as being a new Mum to baby 2 I don’t have a lot of spare money and I didn’t see this coming. I have a maternity exempt certificate but I’ve been told the NHS does not cover root canal treatment. I don’t know what to do, please be kind.

Hi PurpleRose. Hmmm... we aren't entirely sure of the law regarding dental treatment but we thought it was all free until your child was a year old. Definitely anything 'necessary', rather than cosmetic.

Have a look at this link and maybe call some of the numbers and ask about what's covered and what isn't.

I personally had a similar experience when my DC1 was tiny -dentist said I needed some work doing and on finding out it would be free, tried to row back and say it wasn't necessary. I complained and they were forced to do it.

It will all depend on circumstances though.

We'll bump this for you and see if anyone else around knows any more.

I’m in Scotland so it may be different, but root canal is available on the NHS. What is not generally available is re-root canal, which it sounds like is what you need - basically a tooth why but has already had root canal, it’s failed for some reason, and it needs re-done. That process is much more complicated abc fiddlier, and tends to be only done by specialists who have extra training and access to much fancier equipment, plus they only do root canals and re-treatments, so their success rates are higher.

Cost will depend on which tooth it is, and the fact it holds up a bridge might be a big trickier. I had one done on a molar last year and it cost around £1,000, plus I then needed a crown. I had a consultation with the specialist first where he took x-rays, and gave me a good idea of what sort of success rate he predicted if I went ahead. I paid £50 for the consultation - is it worth doing that and seeing what options are out there? My mum actualky lent me money to pay, because like you, it was an unexpected cost I couldn’t afford, but the surgery I went to (which my own dentist referred me to) did offer interest free finance for 12 months. It was a BUPA place.

@Purplerose85 root canal treatments are available on the nhs but if complex or re-root treatments most nhs dentist don't like doing them as they take time, sometimes you need specialist equipment or they might not feel 100% confident in completing the work.

I hope your out of pain soon x