Root canal treatment in Turkey

This is the real decision. Keeping your own tooth is almost always the better outcome when the tooth is restorable, because nothing replaces a natural root and the alternative is an implant or a bridge, both of which cost more and involve more.

Restorable is the word that matters. If enough sound tooth remains above the gum to hold a crown, a root canal is worth doing. If the tooth is split, decayed far below the gum, or has too little structure left, a root canal followed by a crown that fails within a couple of years is money spent twice, and extraction with a planned replacement is the more honest plan.

• Keep the tooth

  Root canal, then a crown on back teeth. Your own root stays, the bone around it stays loaded, and nothing needs replacing later if it holds.

• Remove and replace

  Extraction followed by an implant or a bridge. More expensive, more appointments, and in the case of a bridge it involves the neighbouring teeth.

• Remove and leave the gap

  Sometimes reasonable for a back molar. The teeth around a gap do drift over years, so this is a decision to make deliberately rather than by default.

• Antibiotics alone

  Not a treatment. Antibiotics can settle an acute infection so that treatment can be done, but they do not remove infected pulp and the problem returns.

If the tooth cannot be saved, the dental implant and dental bridge pages set out what replacement involves. If the decay has not reached the pulp yet, a filling may be all that is needed.

1. 1

   Examination and X-ray

   The dentist confirms the pulp is involved, checks the shape and number of canals, and looks for infection at the root tip. A tooth is not root treated on a hunch.
2. 2

   Local anaesthetic

   The tooth is numbed properly before anything starts. An infected tooth can be harder to numb, which is worth saying out loud if you have had that experience before.
3. 3

   Rubber dam

   A sheet that isolates the tooth. It keeps saliva and bacteria out of the canals and stops instruments being swallowed, and its use is a reasonable marker of careful endodontics.
4. 4

   Cleaning and shaping

   The pulp is removed and the canals are cleaned, shaped and disinfected. This is the part that takes the time, and rushing it is what causes failures.
5. 5

   Filling the canals

   The canals are sealed with a root filling material, and the access cavity is closed.
6. 6

   The crown

   On back teeth, a crown follows. Ask when, because a temporary filling is not a long-term seal.

• Which tooth. A front tooth has one canal; a molar can have several, and the work is not comparable.
• First treatment or retreatment. Redoing a previous root canal means removing the old filling material first and takes longer.
• Whether a crown is included. This is the largest single difference between quotes, and the one most often left out.
• Number of visits. And whether they fit into one trip.
• What the package covers. X-rays, medication, review appointments and what happens if the tooth flares up.

The clinic list on this page shows each clinic's current price with a note on what it includes. For instalments, see payment plans. If the tooth cannot be kept, see dental implants and dental bridges; if the decay is shallower, see fillings.

• Retreatment. The root filling is removed, the canals are cleaned again and refilled. Often the first thing to try when a root canal fails.
• Apicectomy. A small operation to remove the tip of the root and seal it from the end, used when retreatment is not possible or has not worked.
• Extraction and replacement. When the tooth cannot be saved. Better planned than improvised, which is why the restorability question matters at the start.
• Failure is not always the dentist's fault. Anatomy varies, canals can be narrow or calcified, and some teeth fail despite good treatment. A clinic that admits that is more trustworthy than one that promises otherwise.

• British Endodontic Society, patient information on root canal treatment.
• NHS, information on root canal treatment and dental charges.
• General Dental Council, guidance on dental treatment received abroad.
• European Society of Endodontology, quality guidelines for endodontic treatment.
• Turkish Ministry of Health, register of facilities authorised for health tourism.