Q. Hi Mr Moore, I was a patient of yours until you left Mr Clough’s practice when I was 15. I’m disappointed to report that the poster has been removed from the ceiling of your old consulting room so now there’s nothing to distract patients from the drilling! Anyway, when I was 9 I fell over and broke my front two top teeth. When I was 15 you root canaled my front two teeth as well as the next one along to the right and then veneered them. I’m 24 now and i’ve known for some years there was a very slow growing infection above the root of the front left tooth and the one to its left. I was advised for years by oral surgeons at St John’s to leave it alone for the time being, until last November when Mr Falconer advised me I should have them re root canaled. Mr Brady at Clough’s practice re-did the front two, and also canaled the one to the left of the front two for the first time. This was done at Christmas. So now all four at the front have been root canaled – the middle two twice each, and the ones either side once each. I’ve been back to see him today because i’ve been experiencing sensitively for the last 3 weeks, usually when I have a drink. This in itself surprised Mr Brady because you’d think due to the very nature of a root canal that I wouldn’t be able to feel anything. Unfortunately the dark patch on the xray above my front left and the one next to it is darker again. We don’t think the bone ever fully recovered, despite the cleaning material that was packed into them at Christmas, however, the patch is now definitely darker again. Mr Brady mentioned that he didn’t think it was infection as such but the bone density seems to be suffering. Mr Brady is quite keen to do an apisectomy. I’m not quite so keen as my Mum ( who you also treated over the years) had two of these done at St John’s not all that long ago and suffered some gum recession. As i’m only 24 and have veneers on the front two i’m nervous about this side effect. The alternative Mr Brady suggested was to privately see an endodontist to re root canal again – he’s referred me to Richard Hems at the Colchester Dental Referral Centre. This option would be much more costly, presumably with no risk of gum recession, but I don’t know what the success rate is like. We very much trusted you for all the years you were our family dentist and i’d really appreciate your opinion as to which might be the better option for me. Kind regards 

A. Hi, Nice to hear from you but sorry to hear of your problems wih your front teeth. I personally try to avoid apicectomy of teeth as it often fails and leaves the subsequent bone unsuitable for implant placement as the defect left behind is usually quite large. My feeling is to consider re-treating the root canal however I would need to see an x-ray first. I would be very happy to see you at my clinic if you would like a second opinion, one of my colleagues has extensive experience in root canal treatment but is not a specialist so his fees might be less. Please feel fre to contact me either at the practice on 01245 268 494 or by e-mail at enquiry@advancedentalclinic.com if you would like me to take a look. Regards  Andrew

Dr Andrew Moore
Advance Dental Clinic
Clinical Director
www.advancedentalclinic.com
Tel: 01245 268 494
104 Moulsham Street
Chelmsford Essex
CM2 0JG