Root canal treatment
Apicectomy
Minor surgery to remove the infected tip of a root, used where retreatment through the crown is not possible. Under local anaesthetic, about an hour, £980.
ExploreRoot canal treatment
Root Canal
Retreatment
Reopening a root canal that has failed — removing the old filling material, finding the canal that was missed, and starting again. Dr Tomasz Bielski does this under a surgical microscope at up to 25×.
- £860–£1,050 Price
- 1–2 Appointments
- Up to 25× Magnification
- Usually needed Crown after
Why they fail, and why they can usually be saved
Almost always because a canal was missed. Upper first molars have a fourth canal roughly six times in ten, and it is narrow, off to one side, and effectively invisible to the naked eye under a dental light. Left untreated, the infection in it never resolves however good the rest of the work was.
Under a microscope it is simply there — along with the calcified canals, the hairline fractures and the perforations that otherwise get diagnosed as “this tooth needs to come out”. A meaningful share of Dr Bielski’s list is teeth that had a root canal somewhere else, stayed sore, and were about to be extracted.
Retreatment is longer and more technical than the original: the crown or filling has to come off, the old gutta-percha dissolved out, sometimes a separated instrument retrieved, before the actual treatment starts. Usually two appointments, and success rates are meaningfully lower than a first-time root canal — around 75–85% against 90%+.
Common questions
That is often right and sometimes not, and the difference is usually whether anyone has looked under magnification. A specialist assessment is £110 and will give you a straight answer either way, including when the answer is that extraction is the sensible choice.
The next options are an apicectomy — removing the infected root tip surgically — or extraction and an implant. We will set out the odds for your particular tooth before you spend anything.
No. Referring a retreatment to a specialist is normal practice, not a criticism, and we report back within five working days and return you to them for the crown.
Related treatments
General dentistry
Dental Crowns
A crown covers a tooth that has too little of itself left to survive another filling. Ours are ceramic or zirconia depending on where the tooth sits, carry a five-year guarantee, and can usually be done in one visit.
ExploreFor the profession
Referring Dentists
Endodontics, implant surgery and orthodontics referrals across North and West Yorkshire, reported within five working days and returned to you for the restorative work.
ExploreBook a consultation
A written plan with fixed prices before anything starts, at either clinic. Ring us or book online — reception can usually find something while you are on the call.