Why do I need endodontic microsurgery or apicoectomy?
Your surgeon or dentist may have recommended apicoectomy as a surgical procedure to try to save your tooth. To understand more about the procedure or why it is necessary, an appreciation for traditional endodontic (root canal) therapy is helpful. When a tooth becomes sensitive or has deep decay, sometimes a root canal is necessary to remove the diseased tissue (blood vessels, connective tissue and nerves) from the inside of the tooth. This tissue lies in a canal in the center of the root. During a root canal, an access hole is made in the top of the tooth and small instruments are used to remove this tissue and reshape the often flat, or ribbon-shaped, canal into a more rounded profile. Once this is accomplished, the canal is sealed with a filling material to keep any residual diseased tissue from leaking out into the surrounding bone and causing irritation or infection. So the goal of the root canal is twofold: one, to remove the tissue in the canal, and, two, to seal the canal, espec
