Dr. Manahil Iftikhar — Endodontist in Johar Town, Lahore

Where did Dr. Manahil Iftikhar study dentistry?

She earned her Bachelor of Dental Surgery from Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences in 2012, then practised clinically before beginning postgraduate training. She completed FCPS training in Operative Dentistry & Endodontics at Lahore Medical & Dental College, finishing in January 2021.

• BDS Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences · 2012
• FCPS Training in Operative Dentistry & Endodontics Lahore Medical & Dental College · 2021

How can I verify her registration?

Dr. Manahil Iftikhar is registered with the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council under registration number 13582-D. Anyone can confirm this independently: the PMDC maintains a public practitioner register searchable by registration number, which shows the licence status and recognised qualifications for every registered dentist in Pakistan.

What does Dr. Manahil Iftikhar treat?

Her clinical focus is endodontics — root canal treatment and saving teeth that would otherwise be extracted. She also handles general and cosmetic dentistry. Orthodontics and complex oral surgery are carried out by our orthodontist, Dr. Arfa Ahmad (13+ years), and our oral and maxillofacial surgeon, Dr. Sharjeel Saddiqi (18+ years) — so every case is treated by the dentist on our team specialized in that field.

What is an endodontist, and how is that different from a general dentist?

An endodontist is a dentist who has completed structured postgraduate training in the inside of the tooth — the pulp, the nerve and the root canal system — and in the surgery that follows when treatment through the crown is not enough. Every dentist qualifies to do root canal treatment. The training is what changes which root canals a dentist takes on, how a difficult one is planned, and what happens when the first attempt has already failed.

In Pakistan the boundary is a matter of training and registration rather than of law: the law does not restrict who may perform a root canal. Which is why the useful question at a first appointment is not whether someone is allowed to treat your tooth, but what they trained in and how often they do this particular procedure. Our guide to who is qualified to treat what in Pakistan sets out how those categories differ and where each one is verifiable.

What did the FCPS training in endodontics involve?

FCPS training in Operative Dentistry & Endodontics is supervised hospital training in a recognised department, examined nationally by the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan rather than by the institution teaching it. Dr. Manahil Iftikhar completed hers at Lahore Medical & Dental College in January 2021, after earning her BDS from Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences in 2012 and practising clinically in between.

The years between the two matter more than they look. A dentist who has already worked in general practice arrives at postgraduate training knowing which cases go wrong and why, and the training is where the answers to those specific problems are learned under supervision rather than on the job.

What does root canal treatment involve at this clinic?

Treatment starts with an examination and a digital X-ray, because the shape of the root canal system and the state of the bone around it are not visible in the mouth. What you are told after that is what the tooth needs, how many visits it will take, and whether the tooth is worth keeping at all — some are not, and saying so is part of the job.

The treatment itself follows the same sequence every time: local anaesthetic, isolation of the tooth so nothing from the mouth reaches the canal, removal of the infected or inflamed pulp, cleaning and shaping of each canal, and a filling that seals the space. A back tooth usually then needs a crown, and this is the part patients are most often not told: the crown is not an upsell after the root canal — it is what stops the treated tooth splitting later.

A first consultation is Rs. 2,000, and it is the only fee quoted before anyone has looked in your mouth. Everything else follows a written estimate, because a figure quoted over the phone for a tooth nobody has seen is a guess.

Which cases does she see most often?

• Toothache that keeps you awake. Pain that wakes a patient at night, or lingers after something hot or cold, usually means the pulp is involved rather than the surface. This is the most common reason a new patient arrives.
• A tooth that has already been treated and hurts again. Retreatment — reopening a tooth someone else has root filled, removing the old material and starting over. These take longer than a first root canal and are planned differently.
• A swollen face or a gum abscess. An infection that has spread out of the tooth into the tissue around it. Seen the same day where possible, through emergency care.
• A broken or heavily filled back tooth. Where the question is whether the tooth can be rebuilt at all, and whether that rebuild needs a root canal first.
• Front teeth after an injury. A knocked or cracked front tooth in a child or an adult, where the decision about the nerve is often not made on the first day.
• Second opinions. Patients who have been told a tooth must be extracted and want to know whether it can be saved — and are sometimes told, honestly, that it cannot.

Questions patients ask before booking

How do I book an appointment with her?

Happy Tooth Dental Clinic is open Monday to Saturday, 03:00 PM - 09:00 PM, at Pakway Plaza, Mir Dad Chowk, Johar Town. You can book online, message the clinic on WhatsApp, or walk in during opening hours. Dr. Manahil Iftikhar examines every patient herself, so the appointment is with her directly rather than assigned to junior staff; where a case calls for orthodontics or oral surgery, she brings in our orthodontist, Dr. Arfa Ahmad, or our oral and maxillofacial surgeon, Dr. Sharjeel Saddiqi, for that treatment.

Read more about the specialists at Happy Tooth or browse the treatments we provide in Johar Town.