A month ago, I had my 5 year old son to a dentist who said that he had 2 cavities (no xray was taken). Saturday, I took him to another dentist closer to my home for a new patient exam. An xray was taken and the new dentist says the decay is close to the nerve, and wants to do a root canal and crown on the tooth. It is closer to the front of his mouth, and I don't see putting him through that (or my wallet through that) for a tooth that will only be around another year or so anyway. I know an extraction could affect how the incoming adult teeth align themselves, but I'm certain he'll need braces anyway, as both myself and my husband did.
Is extraction a feasible option? If it were a molar that he'd have another 6 years or so, I could understand crowning it, but a front tooth? It seems like a way to squeeze $ out of a panicked parent.