Apicectomies

 After an apicectomy the following should be noted:

• • As this is a surgical procedure one will have antibiotics, pain killers and a mouth wash prescribed

• • As in all surgical cases, the sutures may come loose and it is often better to have the wound closed with new sutures

• • If the tooth does not have a crown, it should have one prepared and placed

• • Due to the shortened length of the root, one should be careful of putting excessive force on that tooth

• An apicectomy may fail and the tooth may have to be removed and replaced by an implant

Potential Risks:

• Normal complications like bleeding and a tear of the gum is possible but these are sutured easily
• Rarer complications like a hole developing after an extraction from the mouth to the sinus cavity (oroantral fistula) is possible if the root extends into the sinus cavity. This is solved by closing the hole with a gum flap and stitches
• Rarely following the above is the development of a hole into the sinus cavity whilst the dentist is attempting to perform an apicectomy. A piece of root may fall into the sinus and it must be removed from the sinus and the hole closed
• The sutures can come loose and this needs to be assessed before re-insertion of them is decided upon. “Dissolvable” stitches take between 7 and 10 days to fall out

Any untoward reaction or symptom should be reported as soon as possible to the dentist so that the problem can be found and rectified.

Post-Operative instructions:

• Nothing to eat or drink for two hours so that the blood clot stabilises
• No smoking or alcohol to be used for 24 hours as both these substances are known to impair wound healing
• From the next morning one is to rinse with a saline rinse – take a cup of warm water, dissolve a teaspoon of salt into it and rinse every time after eating for a week’s duration