How long does it take to have a root canal done?

[Andy]

Hi

I have a tooth that is discoloured after I had an accident last year. I have been told that a discoloured tooth needs a root canal by a friend.

After a bad experience at the dentist, during my teenage years I find that I am petrified of going to see the dentist now so I would need sedation if the procedure is likely to take a long time and be painful.

Can you tell me roughly how long it takes for a dentist to do root canal work and could I have sedation for this procedure?

[Dr Mohsen J. Esfahani]

Hi Andy

Root canal treatment time varies widely depending on the tooth and the dentist. Front teeth usually have one canal however posterior molars can have four canals. The more canals a tooth has, the longer the treatment time will be.

During root canal treatment, its important that the canals are cleaned properly in order to kill as many canal bacteria as possible and this takes time. So in my opinion, time spend cleaning the canals thoroughly is never time wasted.

In my case, root canal treatment takes in total between 1Hour to 2hours depending on the tooth and I usually do my root canal treatment over 2 visits.

You can have root canal treatment under IV sedation, provided that you have no medical contra-indications to IV sedation.