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super scared about upcoming tooth extraction

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Ellie721

Junior member
Joined
May 17, 2018
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7
I had a gum line filling done on tooth #31 almost 3 weeks ago. I have been in pain ever since. I cannot chew on it, it sends shooting pain or throbbing pain into my jaw, other teeth, and into my jaw joint. I have been on antibiotics for over a week, they helped some. I have been on painkillers around the clock and still have some slight pain from time to time, especially if I chew. At first, my dentist thought it was because my jaw was being overworked due to lots of dental work being done over the past month or so (this filling, a root canal on tooth #20, chewing on my right side constantly for 2 weeks with a temporary filling in my RCT tooth, etc.) I went back in for a visit to my dentist and he told me RCT is needed, I told him to extract it and he made me kind of nervous saying it wasn't a logical idea. I am already a couple thousand in debt for my RCT I had done last month, and my insurance is maxed out. He offered to adjust the bite and see if that would help since I would no longer be putting pressure on that tooth. Well, it still hurts so bad and I just want to cry I am so fed up with dentistry at this point.

I cannot afford a RCT, I cannot afford a crown. I will have to make payments on the extraction even if I did go through with it. I have 2 friends who are dental assistants, and 1 hygienist friend and they both told me to pull it, that I shouldn't live with pain. Tooth #30 and #29 (still a baby tooth) are super close together and I cannot floss without putting myself in pain because they are so close. Tooth #31 sits right up against my cheek which is why I had the gumline decay, it's extremely hard to clean and get to and I have a very small/tight vestibule.

I am 27 years old. I am a broke college student, wife, and mom, I am not in a position where I could take out a loan or get a credit card. Should I get tooth #31 extracted, or should I just claim bankruptcy and get a RCT and crown :cry: Would my face change shape if I have it pulled? Will I still be able to chew normally and live a normal life?


I will add... tooth #2 had a very deep filling put in it, last time I had a very deep filling on a tooth a year later I had to have it RCT, so if #2 did start to drift down, I could pull that too. I know that is not "proper logic", but just a thought.
 

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Sorry to hear about your pain, Im not a dentist. but its always a shame to just pull a tooth if you can crown or save the tooth, but in the other hand your friends are right, no one should live with pain, I really do not think that your face will change if you pull the number 31, since its a tooth in the back not many will notice that you miss a tooth even. You can always get an implant later if you feel like doing it.

Be well!
 
"
Would my face change shape if I have it pulled? Will I still be able to chew normally and live a normal life? "

l'm pity sure your face wont change shape if you just have one tooth out, that would only happen to people who have lots of teeth pulled out, l'm pity sure you will be able to still chew OK and not notice much difference, maybe food will get caught in the gap sometimes, anyway l'm not a dentist just talking from my own experince
 
Is there no way you could work up a payment plan or something to pay for treatment? Or borrow from family, friends, get some casual work or something?

It's honestly a shame to think of just pulling a tooth because of money issues if the tooth was actually savable. Because money can eventually be earned, but once you pull a tooth, it is gone for good.

Personally, I went under to get my 4 wisdom teeth extracted, 2 were impacted, and within that week, I noticed my face became sharper and less angular at the jawline. I don't know if your face shape will change immediately, but if there is no tooth to stimulate the jawbone, eventually the bone level will drop and start to "shrink". If you lose even more teeth, the lower half of the face will start to collapse inwards.

The opposing teeth will also eventually migrate into the corresponding space vacated by the extracted tooth and you could also lose this tooth as well. But that said, these will take quite some years to happen.

I personally would opt to try to save the tooth. Hope you'll find a solution soon!
 
I got a back molar pulled - no one notices it and my face did not change shape at all. Just fyi. Good luck!
 

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