File separation root canal re-treatment

The case I’m showing you today was referred to me for a re-treatment, as you can observe in the picture, there was a broken file on the distal canal with a big apical periodontitis. The treatment was planned to be done in two appointments. In the first one I removed the broken file, and placed calcium hydroxide for 25 days; In the second appointment the tooth was symptomless and I completed the treatment.

After 4 months the patient came for a review and the PA showed new bone formation, so the infection was healing.

I usually like to finish the treatments in a single appointment but is not a rule, time management has to be consider as another variable in root canals treatments and sometimes, is better to do it in two appointments and some others we need even three appointments.

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.

PhD. MSc. Dr. Pablo Salmeron.