Implant or Apicectomy?

[Paul]

Hi

I have a front tooth that has been root filled Three times in the past 2 years. My dentist tells me that the root filling is very good but the tooth still hurts despite the repeated root fillings.

My dentist is now recommending extraction of the tooth and a titanium Implant. I have recently found out about apicectomy from a friend who had the procedure done a few years ago.

I dont wish to lose the tooth, could I have an apicectomy instead of an implant?

[Dr Mohsen J. Esfahani]

Hi

Thank you for your post. An Apicectomy is a procedure where the very end of the root is removed and any cystic tissue outside of the root is removed and a filling material is placed to close the end of the root.

Success rates with apicectomy is much less than Implants and during apicectomy some bone is removed in order to carry out the apicectomy.

If the apicectomy does not work, and you decide to have an implant, at that point you may also need bone grafting to replace the bone lost during apicectomy. This increases implant cost & treatment completion time.

So your dentist has recommended the more successful treatment but the apicectomy option may also be possible if you wish to save your tooth.