How long does root canal treatment take?

"How long will it take?" is usually the second question after "will it hurt?", and the honest answer is: it depends on the tooth. Here is what decides it, so that you can plan your day — and your expectations.

The consultation

Allow about 45 minutes. This covers your history, the examination, cold and bite tests and the X-rays that are needed, followed by an explanation of what is wrong and what the options are. You leave with a written plan. Treatment is not normally started at this visit unless you are in pain and want relief that day.

The treatment appointment

Most root canal treatments take between an hour and ninety minutes, and most are completed in that single visit. The time is spent numbing and testing the tooth, placing the rubber dam, opening the tooth, finding and measuring each canal, cleaning and disinfecting them under the microscope and finally sealing them. None of it is rushed — hurrying is how canals get missed — and breaks are built in for you.

Why some teeth need two visits

Three situations commonly lead to a second appointment. The first is a tooth with a large or long-standing infection, where it helps to leave an antibacterial dressing inside the canals for a week or two before sealing. The second is a tooth with unusual anatomy — extra canals, sharp curves, calcification — that simply takes longer to treat properly. The third is retreatment of a previous root filling, which involves removing old material and is routinely planned over two visits. A second appointment is not a sign that anything has gone wrong; it is the right plan for that tooth.

Front teeth versus back teeth

A front tooth with a single canal is usually quicker than a molar with three or four. Molars take longer because there is more to find, measure, clean and seal, and because reaching the back of the mouth comfortably takes care.

The whole process

From consultation to the end of treatment is often two or three weeks, depending on diary space and whether a second visit is needed. After that your own dentist fits the crown or filling that protects the tooth, ideally within a few weeks. Where there was infection in the bone, a review X-ray some months later confirms that healing is under way.

How to keep it moving

• Bring recent X-rays from your dentist, or ask them to send them, so they do not need repeating.
• Eat before the appointment; you will be numb for a couple of hours afterwards.
• Tell us if you are nervous — a planned, unhurried visit is quicker in the end than one that stops and starts.
• Book the crown with your dentist as soon as treatment is finished.

For what actually happens in the chair, see root canal treatment; if a long appointment worries you, the page on dental phobia and nervous patients explains how the visit is paced.