Root fillings

The prospect of having a root filling usually makes patients unhappy. They have a poor reputation, usually based on a patient's previous bad experience.

There is no reason to worry about this procedure as I make sure the tooth is fully anaesthetised (made numb) and the whole experience, although a bit boring for you, is nowhere nearly as unpleasant as many people think.

Root fillings are necessary when you are getting a lot of pain and an ordinary filling will not improve the situation. The soft tissue (the pulp) in the canal running up the root of the tooth is either inflamed or dead and infected. In both cases this tissue is removed using special fine files, the tooth disinfected internally and left to settle down for a week or so. On the second visit the canal is finally filled all the way up the root, thus solving the problem permanently.

There is a high (usually well over 90%) success rate for first time root fillings. Occasionally the clinical situation, or difficult root shape or other problems means that I cannot deal with it. If this is the case I always offer to refer a patient to a dentist specialising in this procedure.

The alternative to not having a root filling is removal of the tooth. The problem with this is that if the tooth is critical for one reason or another then the space would have to be filled with a denture, bridge or implant. Any of these would involve extra expense and many times a root filling followed by an ordinary permanent filling is the best option.

Occasionally a crown may be needed after a root filling but all of these choices would be discussed with you first. There is certainly nothing to worry about having a root filling.