Father has dead and broken up molar; what do I tell him?

[Eshy]

My father has a dead back molar. It had a filling in it some time ago and when he had his last dental checkup some months ago he was told he would need a root canal. Unfortunately he refused to go because it costed too much. He says he feels nothing in that tooth. He says the nerve must be dead because in the past few weeks, the tooth has completely broken off into a bunch of different pieces. All that is left is the half that is inside the gums. He has suggested that he might just pull it out himself instead.

Excuse me if i'm wrong but this doesn't sound safe to me... What should i tell him cause he seems pretty set on doing it himself?

 

[carole]

You can tell him that I once had a tooth out years ago by the dentist and he left a piece of the root in that he couldn't get out, he said it would be fine that it would work it's way out. Well it didn't, it worked it's way up into my sinuses and gave me a load of pain in my face for months. I left that dentist and other dentists I saw didn't know why I was in so much pain. They took fillings out and put them back in. I was getting to be in agony, I ended up at the dental hospital and they found the root of the tooth, I also had all 4 wisdom teeth impacted that had to be removed. But they had to cut my cheek inside my mouth to get the root, it had moved since they took an x ray so it was a case of having to do more to find it. Lucky I was asleep but I had stitches and a very sore mouth for about 2 to 3 weeks.

Tell him to see the dentist because he stands to get an infection or even an abscess and that will hurt and may end up costing him more.