“How long does a root canal take?”
I am a 25 year old female. I want to know how long does a root canal take?
12 Answers
As long as it needs to take. Some roots are very simple and straight, others are twisty, narrow, calcified, and require much more time and effort to save.
The answer depends the teeth, the infection, and localization area. Generally, one or two appointments of about 1 hr each. A general dentist or endodontist will often perform root canals using technology such as microscope or rotary instruments.
Thank you.
Thank you.
When you are having any dental procedure done, time should be your least concern. Any procedure is adapted to what a dentist finds when the procedure starts. Your dentist may open your tooth, medicate it, place a temporary restoration and give you an appointment for a later date. Please be careful what you eat. All root canaled teeth are not as strong as the rest of your other teeth. Don't bite into apples. Chew raw carrots, hard nuts. Don't bite ice. All
patients don't take care of their teeth.. You can have injuries to your teeth as far back as childhood and have no pain in any tooth. You bite down on something hard and a tooth or teeth fracture. A crown on a tooth does not make a tooth stronger.. YOU have to floss the area where your crown and natural tooth meet.
Cavities at that area are close to your tooth's nerve. If your tooth is already root canaled if you haven't been flossing your teeth, biting on something hard could fracture your tooth. Root canaled teeth can have decay all around it and
you have no pain. Flossing and brushing correctly daily keeps your teeth, mouth and body healthy.
patients don't take care of their teeth.. You can have injuries to your teeth as far back as childhood and have no pain in any tooth. You bite down on something hard and a tooth or teeth fracture. A crown on a tooth does not make a tooth stronger.. YOU have to floss the area where your crown and natural tooth meet.
Cavities at that area are close to your tooth's nerve. If your tooth is already root canaled if you haven't been flossing your teeth, biting on something hard could fracture your tooth. Root canaled teeth can have decay all around it and
you have no pain. Flossing and brushing correctly daily keeps your teeth, mouth and body healthy.
It depends on the speed of the clinician, tooth, and difficulty level of the specific tooth. On average, and anterior tooth should take between 45 minutes and an hour and a molar is likely to take closer to an hour and a half.
The time is quite variable, depending on many factors including: which tooth, how many canals, ease of access, how long can you keep your mouth open, how tight are the canals, can all canals be found, is this a retreatment (redo) of an old root canaled tooth, how bad is the infection, does it require surgery too, treated by a general dentist or an endodontist (specialist), etc. I have heard of single rooted teeth being treated in 15 minutes (usually those are the ones being redone) and others may be treated in multiple visits of 1 hour duration over a period of months. Bottom line, it should take as long as necessary to do it right, and not sacrifice quality for speed. Do it right the first time, you don't have to do it over. Better to come back for a second, scheduled appointment rather than come back for an emergency. Your endodontist will be able to give you more specifics after he examines you.
Good Luck.
Good Luck.
Root canals usually take an hour to complete.
The short, don't beat around the bush, answer is any time between 20 minutes to a couple of hours. There are so many variables to consider, even with a young person like yourself that it would be difficult to take this short answer to the bank.
This root canal thing seems to be a common theme lately. There are a lot of questions related to root canals and there seem to be some misconceptions too. To adequately and accurately answer your questions there are a couple more pieces of information I need for your background. Your age is helpful although I do not think your gender is too contributive in relation to the length of time a root canal might take to accomplish.
So, let’s start with what we know about your situation and then progress to what other information might be helpful.
Your youth is quite helpful in that any tooth will be less likely to be "sclerotic" or filled in on the inside of the tooth in your body's attempt to heal the tooth naturally. The natural process of healing a damaged tooth, from whatever cause, can ultimately limit and make the completion of a root canal treatment more difficult to accomplish. The younger the patient is, the less likely the tooth is to have laid down secondary dentin which is the process by which the damaged tooth tries to isolate the dental pulp or as it sometimes referred to as the "nerve".
The next question is what type of a tooth is it and where is it in your mouth? The anatomy of every tooth varies and with that variation the number of root canals present also varies. In this case the term "root canal" refers to the anatomic structure within the center of the root of a tooth that gives rise to the name of the procedure which is properly referred to as "root canal therapy". The canal is quite literally a canal or "tube" that runs from near the tip of the root into the pulp chamber of the tooth.
Front teeth and several of the premolar teeth usually have only one canal although there are variations in virtually all teeth that might have a front tooth or premolar with two or even three (rarely even more) canals. This variation is the reason careful examination with x-rays is required lest one of the canals inadvertently be missed in the procedure. Missing a canal usually results in failure of the therapy and then either having to have the procedure redone, a secondary procedure such as an apicoectomy performed or, in a worst case, can ultimately lead to the loss of the tooth at a later time.
Premolar teeth, particularly the upper ones, usually have two canals although variation is common there too. Again, a careful evaluation including x-rays is important as well as a tactile (feeling) sense of the inside of the tooth as the procedure is performed is important.
Finally, molars have the greatest and most common variation of the internal anatomy of any teeth. Maxillary (upper) first molars are a considerable challenge because of their variation. It is most common for this tooth to have three roots and four canals. The mesial buccal root (front outside root) very often has two canals but, and this is important, not always. The issue is that we become so concerned about finding the small secondary canal in this root that the dentist may damage the tooth (root) looking for something that isn't there this time. We're in trouble if we miss it (it's hard to find) and we're in trouble if we try too vigorously to find it when it does not exist. On the other hand, some molars have only one canal. It is all quite interesting when trying to get it right. The bottom line is that molars may have four or more canals and as few as one canal.
The next concern is the anatomy of the patient's mouth. A tooth that is at the front of a patient's mouth usually is easier to access than a tooth near the back. Not too hard to figure out, right? Now let's throw the variable of how wide the patient can open their mouth. Sometimes a patient with an infection cannot open as wide as they usually can, and this restricts access to the sick tooth particularly in the back. Sometimes just the anatomy of the persons mouth or lips restricts access even near the front. All these variable effects the time necessary to accomplish root canal therapy.
I suppose the most truthful answer as to how long it takes to do a root canal is that it will take until the dentist is done. Boy that was a big help!
This root canal thing seems to be a common theme lately. There are a lot of questions related to root canals and there seem to be some misconceptions too. To adequately and accurately answer your questions there are a couple more pieces of information I need for your background. Your age is helpful although I do not think your gender is too contributive in relation to the length of time a root canal might take to accomplish.
So, let’s start with what we know about your situation and then progress to what other information might be helpful.
Your youth is quite helpful in that any tooth will be less likely to be "sclerotic" or filled in on the inside of the tooth in your body's attempt to heal the tooth naturally. The natural process of healing a damaged tooth, from whatever cause, can ultimately limit and make the completion of a root canal treatment more difficult to accomplish. The younger the patient is, the less likely the tooth is to have laid down secondary dentin which is the process by which the damaged tooth tries to isolate the dental pulp or as it sometimes referred to as the "nerve".
The next question is what type of a tooth is it and where is it in your mouth? The anatomy of every tooth varies and with that variation the number of root canals present also varies. In this case the term "root canal" refers to the anatomic structure within the center of the root of a tooth that gives rise to the name of the procedure which is properly referred to as "root canal therapy". The canal is quite literally a canal or "tube" that runs from near the tip of the root into the pulp chamber of the tooth.
Front teeth and several of the premolar teeth usually have only one canal although there are variations in virtually all teeth that might have a front tooth or premolar with two or even three (rarely even more) canals. This variation is the reason careful examination with x-rays is required lest one of the canals inadvertently be missed in the procedure. Missing a canal usually results in failure of the therapy and then either having to have the procedure redone, a secondary procedure such as an apicoectomy performed or, in a worst case, can ultimately lead to the loss of the tooth at a later time.
Premolar teeth, particularly the upper ones, usually have two canals although variation is common there too. Again, a careful evaluation including x-rays is important as well as a tactile (feeling) sense of the inside of the tooth as the procedure is performed is important.
Finally, molars have the greatest and most common variation of the internal anatomy of any teeth. Maxillary (upper) first molars are a considerable challenge because of their variation. It is most common for this tooth to have three roots and four canals. The mesial buccal root (front outside root) very often has two canals but, and this is important, not always. The issue is that we become so concerned about finding the small secondary canal in this root that the dentist may damage the tooth (root) looking for something that isn't there this time. We're in trouble if we miss it (it's hard to find) and we're in trouble if we try too vigorously to find it when it does not exist. On the other hand, some molars have only one canal. It is all quite interesting when trying to get it right. The bottom line is that molars may have four or more canals and as few as one canal.
The next concern is the anatomy of the patient's mouth. A tooth that is at the front of a patient's mouth usually is easier to access than a tooth near the back. Not too hard to figure out, right? Now let's throw the variable of how wide the patient can open their mouth. Sometimes a patient with an infection cannot open as wide as they usually can, and this restricts access to the sick tooth particularly in the back. Sometimes just the anatomy of the persons mouth or lips restricts access even near the front. All these variable effects the time necessary to accomplish root canal therapy.
I suppose the most truthful answer as to how long it takes to do a root canal is that it will take until the dentist is done. Boy that was a big help!
It really varies. It depends on which tooth it is and if there are other factors like if it is very calcified or extremely curved roots or very long roots. It can take anywhere from half an hour to a couple of hours. Most root canals can be completed in one visit but some require two. It also depends on who is doing the root canal. If a specialist is doing the root canal it will be much quicker and take less time and appointments than if a general dentist is doing it for you.
Diplomate of the American Board of Endodontists
Diplomate of the American Board of Endodontists
Hello,
It depends on the case. But it can be anywhere from one to two hours. Thank you for your question.
It depends on the case. But it can be anywhere from one to two hours. Thank you for your question.
Approx an hour appt
Hello,
The time it takes to do a root canal varies with each tooth and the situation that caused the tooth to need the root canal. It also varies depending on who is doing the root canal (a specialist or a general dentist). Generally speaking, root canals are scheduled for one hour. Sometimes you need to come back for a second visit 2 weeks later, which will take between 30 to 60 minutes to complete depending on the presence of an infection.
Hope this helps
My best to you!
William F. Scott IV, DMD
The time it takes to do a root canal varies with each tooth and the situation that caused the tooth to need the root canal. It also varies depending on who is doing the root canal (a specialist or a general dentist). Generally speaking, root canals are scheduled for one hour. Sometimes you need to come back for a second visit 2 weeks later, which will take between 30 to 60 minutes to complete depending on the presence of an infection.
Hope this helps
My best to you!
William F. Scott IV, DMD
It depends on a few factors. The type of tooth you're getting the root canal on. Some teeth such as molars need more time to treat because they have multiple roots, whereas front teeth usually only have one root and can be treated faster. The skill and experience of the doctor performing the root canal is also a factor. If you have the root canal done by a qualified endodontist, it should take between 45-90 minutes, depending on the factors I mentioned above.
