A 'file' broke in my tooth during my root canal, should I be worried?

Question

So basically i had a root canal done about an hour ago, and the dentist said one of the "files" broke inside my tooth (gum, canal area?) Anyway this piece broke, and is in my gum. Should I be worried about a greater chance of infection?

Answer 1

The file would have broke in the canal not the gum. If it were in the gum, he/she would definitely have taken it out. So, you have a broken piece of very thin metal in the root of your tooth. Years ago, before the advent of newer technology, that is how a root canal was done. They placed 'silver points' in the canals. The file itself isn't likely to cause infection. What will make the difference is how well cleaned out the canal was of nerve tissue and how well the canal sealed. What is put in (silver points, gutta percha) is no where near as important as what was taken out (decaying nerve tissue, infection).

Having a file break isn't uncommon. It does happen. The files used to clean out the canals are very, very fine and breaking is a risk. But they remain the best tool for the job. Before everyone jumps on board screaming "sue your dentist" or "bad dentist"... no. Root canals are difficult to perform and have some simple risks. This is one of them. It will happen to pretty much every dentist sometime in their career. Medical science just isn't that perfect yet. And of things than can go wrong... this is a good one to have.

Your doc appears to have chosen the less invasive solution at this point. Which is to seal the tooth with the file and wait and see. To try and remove that broken file is difficult and could cause a perfuration of the tooth which would mean the tooth would have to be extracted. So, his decision to leave it be and seal the tooth is the one I would prefer as a patient.

Talk to your dentist and ask him/her what will happen if infection does recur. There are other procedures that can be done to fix it and your doc can explain that. They are more invasive, so why do it until your tooth says you have to.

I think your doc did the right thing clinically and he/she did the right thing by explaining to you what happened. Both you and your dental team are aware of it. They will monitor it and there is a very good chance it will be fine.

Good luck!