Should I have root canal or not? Any advice!

[CornishGirl]

I am 27 years old and have just been to see my dentist about tooth pain. He did an X-ray and under the filing of my second tooth at the back ( bottom left ) it has decayed and is infected. He has given me the option of having root canal surgery or having it extracted. I am worried about the pain involved in root canal surgery. He told me I can have it done more cheaply on the NHS ( uk) but that the chance of success is only 40 %. I don't really want to go through all the pain for it not to work, or to have further pain as a result but I am conscious that once my tooth has gone it has gone. I have all my other teeth and although I have several smaller fillings they are generally healthy teeth. Can anyone offer me any advice? I am on antibiotics to help clear the infection before the procedure (should I decide to have it).

[concerned169]

Being in the dental profession, as I would tell anyone of my patients, you need to save the tooth. I have has two root canals done due to large fillings that were too close to the nerves and they were just fine.  A root canal is basically just a filling of the nerve.  You are so young and that is your primary chewing tooth.  If you lose that tooth you will face the problem of your teeth shifting and tilting.  This can change your bite and position of the teeth.  If you do opt to extract yo0u may look at getting a bridge to replace the missing tooth but this quite costly.  It runs 3X the amount of a root canal on a molar.  Good luck !  Root canals are much easier than extractions.