Root canal or extraction ?

I'm sure you guys get this question from time, but here goes. I'm faced with either having a tooth pulled or getting a root canal. I really can't afford the root canal, but I don't want to walk around with a missing front tooth. What should I do? Thanks,

Doug Miller snipped-for-privacy@milmac.com

Reply to
alphageek
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There are no alternatives ..... there should be, but there are not. Even dental schools are quite expensive for patient treatment.

Joel

Reply to
Joel M. Eichen

This is probably hard to grasp now but I would get the root canal. Back in the 70s I got almost $8,000.00 worth of root canals and caps/crowns (damn near every tooth I had). I have never had to go back to a dentist, so I think it wound up being cheaper that way.

Reply to
Maverick

Root canal. 3rd option is an implant although that is about the price of 4 or 5 root canals. I do not know of any dentist that will not work out a payment plan. My dentist does not even charge interest. Fortunately all he sees me for is routine cleanings twice a year.

Reply to
Leon

Save up and get the root canal or, if you have to, get it on *gasp* credit. I think that in the end, you will be far happier having the tooth then wearing a flipper (removable partial denture), and I have no doubt a rct and crown is less than a 3 unit bridge or dental implant will cost if you want a fixed solution in the future.

-- Adenosine Semi-informed Dental Consumer ?

Reply to
Adenosine

Let's see Extraction - single root - ~$150 - multi root - ~ $225 Root Canal - single root - ~$700 - multi root - ~$925 Crown - single root tooth - ~$800 - multi root tooth - ~$1000 Titanium Implant (no crown)~$2000 (if you go cheap now and fill in later) Nitrous Oxide ~$ 20 Percodan PRICELESS

If you want to have absolutely no memory of the hacking and hewing as for Halcyon (an amnesia drug) and have someone drive you to the dontist (not dentist but dontist as in endodontist - they're the ones who work INSIDE the tooth. There's also prostheodontists - they do the above the gum line stuff like crowns and periodontists - they do everything below the gum but outside the tooth) Between these three, I've probably paid for a low end Mercedes.

FLOSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

Seriously - I'd go root canal because it allows more future options when you start making and selling ART pieces (see Gary/Garry Knox Bennett?) and have sufficient funds to make really ugly stuff out of nice expensive woods.

charlie b

Reply to
charlie b

Nothing is certain, so you should be aware that even if you have a root canal, you may still lose the tooth. Also root canal and crown go together, so you either have a crown and now need a root canal or you need a root canal and will immediately or eventually need a crown to maintain the tooth. Don't know where you live but where I live a root canal and crown will relieve you of about $1500.

However, pulling it will certainly lose the tooth. Then you will need an appliance (bridge or whatever) which is expensive and a poor substitute for a tooth. If you lose the tooth you can go the peg in the jaw to hold and artificial tooth. That is a good alternative to an appliance but expensive $3-4000.

Reply to
George E. Cawthon

Stop by the shop, I have an almost new Dremal I've been wanting to try out on some detail work. If that fails we'll fix you up a nice epoxy coated wooden tooth to replace it. We also offer your choice of anesthetic- makers mark, tequila,vodka etc. We also offer the discount version- large wooden mallet. ( sorry just could not help myself) Good luck with your dental work- wishing you well. Wayne, Columbia MD

Reply to
Wayne K.

Arrange for financing, and have the root canal treatment. .. Stephen Mancuso, D.D.S. Troy, Michigan, USA

I am writing on a Tablet-PC,so forgive me if the PC misreads my handwriting.

Reply to
Dr. Steve

Ooooohhhhh - that sounds interesting. Aside from inducing amnesia, does it also kill pain or otherwise make you not care about what's happening?

Reply to
Lazarus Long

On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 03:59:39 -0500, the inscrutable Silvan spake:

I got really luck in that department. I had only 3 wisdom teeth and none had much in the way of roots. I was in and out of his office in under an hour. He sat me down, hit me with 3 injections of novopain (which hurt much more than anything else), ran the nitrous for about

5 minutes, let me sit for 15 minutes, and came in with a chisel scraper. Scrape, scrape, twist, pop! First one in under a minute. Rinse, repeat x2. He then had me sit an extra 20 minutes whilst I bled into dowel-shaped cottons and instructed me to avoid sucking or blowing my food (?) which would cause a dry socket. He wrote a prescription for Darvocet and I was off. Of course, back then I was into that sort of thing so I went back the next day and had him fill out a stronger prescription. I partied for a couple weeks on those. (No, I don't miss that lifestyle at all.)

Mother Dearest reminded me of her stint with the oral surgeon. He had her hold the stainless steel bowl while he worked with a hammer and chisel on all 4 impacted root systems for several hours. It's still the scariest dental horror story I've ever heard.

-- Life's a Frisbee: When you die, your soul goes up on the roof. ----

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Reply to
Larry Jaques

That does sound like a horror story. I remember when my sister had her wisdom teeth out. One side of her cheek became infected right through the cheek from the inside to the outside. Definitely a painful experience.

Reply to
Upscale

If you need expensive dental work, consider a trip south of the border. Often Mexican dentists speak English, and are set up to take your implants today and be ready to crown a couple of days later.

Reply to
Roger Shoaf

Hi Doug-

When I was in school, I let a tooth go, not even a front tooth, it was a couiple spaces back. A big smile would show the gap. I didn't give it much thought. After school, second job, had good dental insurance, so I started doing a lot of stuff. Ended up replacing the missing tooth with a bridge. Still have that bridge.

Funny thing is, when I got the new teeth, I found I had made myself smile crooked to hide that hole. I really was not aware of it, I didn't think it mattered. But some part of me was compensating. With the new tooth in there, people noticed I had a nice smile. Commented on it, even.

Fix the tooth. Now if it was in the back.....

I have run into only one bad dentist in Indy. On 62nd Street, across from Glendale.

-Dan V.

Reply to
Dan Valleskey

I followed all the instructions to the letter, and got a dry socket anyway.

Holy shit that hurts.

Glad you got away from it. I know entirely too many people who have completely destroyed or entirely lost their lives over that kind of shit. Two dead, two in a ceaseless cycle of rehab that never seems to work, three in prison, one on the run from the law. I'm just thankful I never got sucked into that particular black hole. Glad you didn't either, but you got too damn close for comfort.

Reply to
Silvan

On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 02:38:30 -0500, the inscrutable Silvan spake:

Hey, we had the same friends way back when. It'll be 20 years on July

8th. (Yes, I survived that last 4th of July by the skin of my teeth.)

Ditto here, and it was a miracle how things happened to let me sober up. I watched smoking friends die from lung cancer and druggie friends die from drugs/alcohol/stupidity. But I'm sober so it's Happy Days for me! I "lose" fewer things since none of those old friends are around the house any more. Imagine that.

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Get the root canal therapy.

Learn more here:

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Reply to
W_B

You do know that it is most likely also going to require a cap. Root canals don't hurt and are the way to go when you can afford it.

Reply to
TBone

That's a blanket statement if I ever heard one! My ex had a root canal, the results of which were that he was in so much pain that he was screaming that evening. This was a man that didn't even complain about headaches, etc., yet the root canal about did him in. It's the only time in the 25 years we were married that I ever heard him complain about pain.

Kinda shows it depends on the individual, the dental professional, the tooth, and the circumstances surrounding that particular tooth. Ya think?

Glenna

Reply to
Glenna Rose

he was also wrong about the cap thing. Sometimes you need a cap, not always.

-Dan V.

Reply to
Dan Valleskey

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