The founding discipline of GC Clinic. If your tooth can be saved, we default to saving it — rather than extracting and implanting. Microsurgical technique, magnification, rubber dam, full irrigation protocol. The tooth that keeps its own root is the tooth that keeps its own bone.
The published survival curve for specialist endodontic treatment is approximately 90% at ten years. For treatment performed without magnification, without rubber dam, without specialist technique, the curve is materially lower — closer to 70% at five. A re-treatment is harder, more expensive, and more likely to end in extraction than the original treatment would have been, had it been done correctly the first time.
Every endodontic case is performed under magnification. Root canal systems contain anatomy the naked eye cannot see.
Non-negotiable. The rubber dam isolates the tooth from oral bacteria during treatment. Any clinic that omits this step is compromising the outcome.
Full chemo-mechanical disinfection protocol. Sodium hypochlorite at 5.25%, supplemented with EDTA, activated where indicated.
Rotary NiTi files under torque control — consistent apical preparation, minimal over-instrumentation.
Three-dimensional filling of the canal system with gutta-percha and AH Plus sealer. Voids create the environment in which bacteria recolonise.
Endodontic treatment is only as good as the restoration that follows. We plan the crown or onlay as part of the endodontic appointment — not as an afterthought.
A tooth that has had a root canal and is still painful, or showing apical lesion on X-ray, is not automatically an extraction. Endodontic re-treatment — disassembling the existing filling, re-disinfecting the canal, re-sealing — can rescue the tooth in most cases. Where non-surgical re-treatment fails, apicectomy (surgical endodontics) is often the final salvage option. Extraction is the last resort, not the default.
| Treatment | UK private (avg) | At GC Clinic |
|---|---|---|
| Root canal · anterior (single canal) | £500–£900 | from £180 |
| Root canal · premolar (1–2 canals) | £700–£1,100 | from £220 |
| Root canal · molar (3–4 canals) | £900–£1,400 | from £280 |
| Endodontic re-treatment | £1,100–£1,800 | from £380 |
| Apicectomy · surgical | £1,500–£2,500 | from £520 |