Oral surgeon wants to leave my roots in. Is this a legit procedure?

[fmschweb]

I recently had pain in my lower left, back jaw. Went to a dentist, said it looked like a problem with the wisdom tooth, and referred me to an oral surgeon. First thing the surgeon says to me is that there is a risk of hitting the nerve in my jaw and permanently paralyzing that area. So we better take another x-ray, a 3-D X-ray. Then he showed me how the nerve runs close to the roots of the wisdom teeth. I felt like he already knew we were going to see this, and he was just trying to scare me about the potential of hitting this nerve. He didn't even address the tooth that was hurting me at first, he focused on the other tooth. One of my wisdom teeth looked closer to the nerve (I think it was the one that was hurting me, but I forget), and said he would rather just cut off the top of the tooth and leave in the roots. Is this an accepted, common procedure? I've never heard of this being done to anyone, and it seems like an invitation for further complications. I also noticed when they gave me an estimate of the procedure, it was almost $300 more to cut off the top of the tooth than to do a full extraction. There were other things that occurred during this visit that made me feel like I was dealing with a car salesman, rather than a medical professional. He also wrote me a prescription for antibiotics, that I could fill when, and if, we scheduled the surgery. I had already filled a prescription from the dentist for antibiotics, which he knew. So basically I have a prescription in my possession that may not be necessary, which seems irresponsible of a doctor.

How does this experience and diagnosis strike you dental professionals out there? I'm just wondering if my skepticism of this guy was legitimate?

 

[comfortdentist]

cutting off the top and leaving a root right by a nerve is an acceptable procedure.
Taking a CBCT when the root is near the nerve is also good
Anything else I can't say.