Advice about apiocetomy

[chloemask]

Hi,

I posted a while back. I'm 21. I have a broken front tooth that has had a root canal and crown. The root canal didn't work and I've had toothache on and off for about 6 months. My dentist referred me to a specialist NHS oral surgeon for an assessment. I saw them and they recommended an apicoectomy but also talk about the other options if it fails. They said with the NHS I'd has a 70 or 80 percent success rate. He did say that private treatments with an endontist can have higher success rates. I've looked in my area and the cost privately is £1000, it's £60 on the NHS.

I'm so anxious about this tooth and I cant stop imagining the future or reading the internet. I'm so distracted and anxious about losing it and then having to decide on a bridge or implant and pay for that too and go through all that treatment even after having this surgery

I dont know what to chose. private or NHS? and the dentist said if I'd want an implant it might be more likely to succeed if I go straight to that rather than have an apio. If I need thousands for an implant, is it worth going for that straight away rather than paying for a private apio that might still fail? the difference between NHS and private is an insane amount of money as well.

At least NHS have offered me sedation for the apio so I would be completely out of it ...

Any advise or reassurance would be welcome

 

[blackhound]

If it's any solace I'm in the same place except that I'm in the USA. I have a 9 year old root canal that has failed and I'm scheduled for an apico. I've already been warned that when the endo opens it up he will also look for a fracture. That is a possibility since this tooth has a post and core as part of the restoration. If that's the case? It's an extraction and an implant.

I'm actually okay with the idea of the apico. I have great faith in this endodontist. He's done me well with other teeth that were botched by bad dental work.

Being in the USA I don't have the decision of private or public but the costs are staggering for an implant so I get the financial anxiety. And yes, it's hard not to think the worst. Hang in there.

Hi,

I posted a while back. I'm 21. I have a broken front tooth that has had a root canal and crown. The root canal didn't work and I've had toothache on and off for about 6 months. My dentist referred me to a specialist NHS oral surgeon for an assessment. I saw them and they recommended an apicoectomy but also talk about the other options if it fails. They said with the NHS I'd has a 70 or 80 percent success rate. He did say that private treatments with an endontist can have higher success rates. I've looked in my area and the cost privately is £1000, it's £60 on the NHS.

I'm so anxious about this tooth and I cant stop imagining the future or reading the internet. I'm so distracted and anxious about losing it and then having to decide on a bridge or implant and pay for that too and go through all that treatment even after having this surgery

I dont know what to chose. private or NHS? and the dentist said if I'd want an implant it might be more likely to succeed if I go straight to that rather than have an apio. If I need thousands for an implant, is it worth going for that straight away rather than paying for a private apio that might still fail? the difference between NHS and private is an insane amount of money as well.

At least NHS have offered me sedation for the apio so I would be completely out of it ...

Any advise or reassurance would be welcome

 

[Gordon]

Prognosis of an apicectomy on an upper central is very good, in the very high 90 percentile. Access is excellent and there's only a single root to worry about. Private endodontist would probably try re-doing the root canal first before surgery hence the difference in cost.
Otherwise an apicectomy is an apicectomy if you see what I mean.

 

[chloemask]

Thank you so much blackhound. Good luck for your apico ?

Thanks Gordon, I really appreciate the reassurance. that statistic is very different to what the NHS surgeon said! They also said that privately they have better equipment eg microscopes that improve the chances. None of the dentists I've seen so far have suggested that retreating the root is a good option do think that's because they're not endontists?

So you think the difference between private apico and nhs one success is minimal? just the retreating makes the difference?

I'm terrifying of losing the tooth and going through more to get an implant or a bridge, it's making the decision between NHS and private so hard to cope with

 

[Gordon]

The guidance is to retreat first before doing surgery, if the retreat is done by a specialist with a microscope then the prognosis is much better and the chance of surgery is reduced.