Why endodontic retreatment is less successful than primary root canal therapy

Endodontic retreatment has been proven less effective than conventional root treatment. Factors dictating this include difficulty in accessing the root canal system in retreatment cases, problems in negotiating a highly resistant micro flora and unfavourable anatomy. Patients should, therefore, be counselled on the possibility of failure necessitating surgical procedures and possibly extraction. However, despite these mitigating factors success is still a realistic goal in the majority of cases.