I cant believe that I am in this situation, again!

[Paige2018]

So, I had a root canal about 8 years ago knowing that it is not guaranteed to last forever. I have been having pain in the area, and ended up at the dentist in tears this morning. I have been given two options...
1. Root canal retreatment (consult fee of $300, plus treatment cost of $2000)-if the tooth is not cracked. They will not know until hey get into my tooth to see
2. Extraction with bone graft of $600-either if I cant afford the root canal, or if the tooth is cracked and unsavable
I am currently without a job (no, I am not asking for money for assistance, jut venting and hoping someone can provide some advice), which also means that I do not have any insurance. I have looked into getting some dental insurance, but they all have a waiting period of 6-12 months. As miserable as I am right now, I can not wait that long to get this fixed.
I have had both extractions and root canals done in the past (thanks to a broken jaw about 20 years ago), and while I much prefer a root canal, I just don't think I can come up with the money for that any time soon. Extractions scare me because I have had dry socket before, and it is horrible! And with the additional cost of dry socket, I might as well have paid for a root canal.
I just do not know what to do, and at this point, I am waiting on a call back from my dentist to see if I can take an antibiotic that will buy me some time to see if I can come up with money to get either one done. If not, I am going to have to find a cheap clinic that will pull a tooth for under $100, and we all know that it will not be a good experience for that small of a cost.
All that I have been doing is cringing and crying from the pain, and I cant take much more! If anyone has any suggestions, I would be more than happy to read them. Thank you for taking the time to read this and help me with information.

 

[Enarete]

Hi Page2018,

so sorry to hear about your situation, this sounds really difficult. First of all, did your dentist call you back and gave you something to deal with the pain? Being in pain to a point of crying is not the best state to be in when making any decisions, I really hope you got some meds by now.

From reading your post it seems that if you had the financial possibilities, you would rather go for a root canal retreatment then the extraction and that's what I would try to go for if it was my tooth. I know it is very expensive and you do not have any security for it to work and might in the worst case end up with an extraction anyway, but saving the tooth is always the best option. If you get it extracted, you will have to deal with replacement sooner or later which is no fun either and can also get quite costy.

So my advice would be to try to find a way to get the money for the root canal retreatment. I have no idea how your health care system works and what options you have, but I would like to encourage you to keep looking for possibilities. I would also check other practices if you could get it for a better price. Maybe checking if there is a dental school that offers the treatment for a lower price? Or trying to get the insurance? Or a payment plan at the practice? There must be a way..

All the best for you, may you get rid of the pain very soon, may your tooth get saved and may you find a possibility to deal with the costs of the treatment.

Take care and keep us posted