LONG TERM POSTOPERATIVE FOLLOW UP
Recommendations for routine post-treatment follow up vary greatly among endodontic practices. It is common for an endodontic office to see a patient for recall examination, at six or twelve months after treatment is completed, and no further follow may be recommended if the treated tooth is asymptomatic and without signs of pathology. In a small number of cases, a problem may begin to develop later, even years after treatment has been completed, and we may not realize that there is an issue needing to be addressed until symptoms have developed. Our goal is ongoing verification of the success of our treatment, and early identification of any postoperative problems, so that procedures can be evaluated and correction of complications may be completed. While the field of endodontics has much research on materials and techniques, our profession has minimal long term follow up data. Adding to the body of recall data will assist us in improving our treatment procedures, and will enhance long term endodontic treatment outcomes.
Depending upon the circumstances of the specific case, we may recommend postoperative follow up examination at three, six, nine, or twelve months, or at one, two, three, or five year intervals.
We recommend unlimited, continuing recall examination, at no charge to the patient, even when no symptoms are present.