Deep inside the tooth is a soft mass of nerve that dentists call the pulp. If the tooth is damaged - either by injury or decay - it may cause the pulp to get infected (pulpitis). If this happens, your dentist may carry out a root canal treatment.

Sometimes, unfortunately, even after a root filling, the infection does not go away – it stays in the bone around the end of the root. When this happens the dentist may have to perform a small operation called an apicectomy.

During this treatment, which is done under local anaesthetic, the dentist makes a very small cut in the gum, cleans out any infection and then puts a small filling at the end of the root canal to stop any future infection. Once this is done, the dentist replaces the gum and stitches are put in place.
If you have this treatment, you can expect to get some swelling from the procedure which will get worse over the first three days then subside. The amount of swelling varies greatly from person to person and is impossible to predict.

Success of this operation is based on a number of things - particularly the size of the infected area.