APICOECTOMY IS A MINOR SURGICAL PROCEDURE WHERE THE APICAL PART OF A TOOTH ROOT IS REMOVED AND CURETTAGE OF THE TISSUES AROUND THE APEX OF THE ROOT IS CARRIED OUT IN ORDER TO REMOVE ANY INFECTED TISSUE THAT LIES AROUND THE APEX OF THE ROOT OFTHE TOOTH.

Normally when a tooth becomes infected, Root Canal Treatment is recommended in order to remove the infected tissue within the root of the tooth. Our treatment has a high success rate of around 70-90% on average. Once the treatment is carried out, the source of the infection is removed and in time the infection that lies outside the root usually resolves.

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Occasionally root canal treatment fails or is not sufficient by itself alone to resolve a large area of cyst or infection around the root of the tooth. In such a situation either the treatment can be redone or the tooth removed or an apicoectomy is carried out.

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This is not an alternative to first root canal treating an infected tooth and is indicated on occasions where redoing the root canal is not possible such as where a long post or a fractured instrument exists within the root canal of the tooth. Removing such a long post risks fracturing the root and removing the fractured instrument is not always possible through traditional treatment. In these situations the dentist and the patient may decide that apicoectomy will be a better last resort alternative to removing the tooth altogether.

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Where redoing root canal treatment is not possible, the alternative to apicoectomy would be removing the tooth and replacing the lost tooth with a Denture, Dental Bridge or a Dental Implant.

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The Apicoectomy procedure will take around 30-90 minutes to complete depending on complexity