Hi,
Hope someone can give me some advice.
I'm 25, and up until I was 22, I had a pretty bad dentist (unfortunately I did not realise this until it was too late). Long story short I went to my new dentist with a huge amount of cavaties.
Most have been treated with fillings but i've had a toothache off and on for a couple of months (very simmilar to when my TMJ plays up, hence why I thought nothing of it until it started to get worse), went to see my dentist and he said he will fill it but he doesn't know if it will help.
He said I should start thinking about whether I want root canal treatment or extraction.
The tooth in question is second molar on my right side, right in front of where a wisdom tooth has begun to poke through. The dentist said that if I have the tooth extracted, it will give more room for the wisdom tooth to come through and hopefully avoid any potential problems in that department (though he was clear that it would not slide into that position so there would still be a gap).
When I asked what he thought I should do he just said "I'd be comfortable with extracting the tooth. Plus, root canal is very expensive."
I really don't know what to do for the best. Obviously, i'm going to go ahead with the filling (which I have to wait 2 weeks for - although part of me is concerned as to whether even this is worth doing given my tooth is already hurting...it doesn't hurt to bite or touch but it's sensitive to hot/cold liquid and i have a constant dull throbbing pain) in case it just happens to work, but if it doesn't I don't know whether to put myself through root canal or go ahead and get the tooth extracted.
I'm also starting to get a much milder but nagging pain in the second molar in my left side and now i'm panicking that i'm going to lose all my teeth, lol.
Would be grateful for any advice, pointers, opinions etc
Thanks