There are so many that it would be cumbersome to list them all. Some of the more common ones are severely curved roots, accessing through an existing crown, medically compromised patients, older patients who have a tendency to have extremely small canals (termed calcification), presence of calcification in the pulp chamber (pulp stones), teeth which have tilted over changing the access direction, teeth with the presence of additional roots or canals than “normal” for that tooth, patients with “come and go” type symptoms are hard to diagnose which exact tooth is in need of treatment, severely swollen patients that are in pain, trauma victims, inability to find and negotiate every canal that is present, fractured teeth and last but not least; separation of an instrument in the canal during treatment. Many times they can be removed, but the position and how much is retained in the tooth also affects the out come of a case where separation occurs.

• Why do I need endodontic therapy (root canal therapy)?
• What is a root canal anyway?
• Would you be more specific?
• How long does it take?
• Is the procedure painful?
• How come my regular dentist won’t do my root canal?
• Am I finished after the root canal? Do I need to have anything else done to my tooth?
• I had several crowns done in the past, how come I never had a root canal with those teeth?
• How long should I wait before having the buildup and crown done?
• Is it possible to not know that you need endodontic therapy?
• What is the difference between a regular dentist, and a specialist?
• Is it better to see a specialist, or let my general dentist treat me?
• Root canals don’t work on me! I’ve had several; and every time I end up getting the tooth pulled!
• My dentist said I needed to have a tooth I already had a root canal done on, treated again. Why?
• I had endodontic therapy done 10 years ago. Last week I had another tooth treated, and the procedure seemed very different. Which one is better?