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Aim To consider the survival of root canal treatment provided within the General Dental Services in England and Wales, with failure being defined as re-treating of a root canal, apical surgery or extraction. Methods A data set was established consisting of patients, 18 years or older, whose birthdays were included within a set of randomly selected dates and whose restoration records contained the placement of one or more direct restorations or crowns in courses of treatment between September 1990 and January 2002. The history of each root canal-treated tooth was consulted, and the next date for an intervention on the root canal of the tooth, defined as a re-treatment, apical surgery or extraction, was obtained. Thus, a data set was created of root canal-treated teeth, with the dates of root canal filling placement and the dates, if any, of re-intervention. Results Data for over 80 000 different adult patients were analysed, and a total of 30 843 root canal-treated teeth identified from the data over a period of 11 years. The proportion surviving without further treatment of the root canal was estimated at 74% within an observation time of up to 10 years, with survival being strongly correlated with the characteristics of the patient, including age and treatment history, with older patients having root canal treatment with earlier re-intervention than those of younger patients. Conclusion Within the data set analysed, an estimated 74% of root canal-treated teeth pass through 10 years without re-treatment, apical surgery or extraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]