Thanks Stacy and Penny,

First of all, one of the reasons I am questioning myself is that I found the younger one online (before my regular dentist was even giving me a name), and I chose him based on his flawless online reviews on yelp and many other sites. But then, I started wondering if the reviews were *too* flawless. I'm not sure whether I'm just paranoid after a year of bad dental advice, or whether this should be an actual concern. I mean, if he didn't have those reviews, I never would have found him. (The one recommended by my dentist has no online reviews at all. Different generation?)

The younger one has been practicing for less than 10 years I think, whereas the other one has more like 30 years of experience. I guess that explains the MD, Stacy? He uses IV valium (which I had for my wisdom teeth many years ago), whereas the other one uses propofol (which I have had for endoscopies, but not for 1.5 hours!);not sure which is preferable in general or in my particular case, but would love some advice on this too.

The other thing that bothered me about the older guy is that he couldn't give me a price, or even an estimate, while I was there, telling me he'd have to work it up. Maybe I am missing something, but it seems to me that if you pull teeth every day and have for thirty years, you would likely know how much you charge for a procedure, at least roughly. I saw him in the early afternoon but he was not going to be able to tell me the cost until tomorrow morning. I have to say that made me very uncomfortable.

Then there's his relationship with my dentist, who may be my former dentist. He was saying he was going to choose implants based on what my dentist preferred to work with, but I am not even sure that's going to be my dentist going forward (or if I am going to get implants). I guess I would have preferred him to tell me what the best implants are, and that's what we going to go with (if we even go with implants). There was also some other stuff I wasn't quite at ease with as well. On the plus side, he said they were extra careful with TMJ sufferers to place as little pressure on the jaw as possible, but would would likely carve the tooth and take out each root individually. (Though as I write this, it sounds horrifying, and makes it less possible that I will ever know if the tooth was fractured.)

Bottom line: either of these could probably do an excellent job, but after months of dental trauma, I don't have faith in any dentists anymore. I find myself questioning every statement they make. Bryanna told me to try to stay positive, and I'm really trying (honestly!) but it is hard not to feel somewhat victimized when you've been in pain for almost a year, spent thousands of dollars, and had dentist after dentist tell you they have no idea why. Today the oral surgeon says he thinks both teeth are cracked, something everyone else (except for Bryanna!) said was highly unlikely. It's difficult not to remind myself that the periodontist thought some gum surgery would help, and the endo thought it for sure needed a root canal, and the prosthodontist recommended we try a temp crown. I'm jaded, I know. I understand that the teeth HAVE to come out, and the sooner the better. But I am so scared to make the wrong decision now, because when I replay all my dental decisions for the past year, I don't have a very good track record.

Sorry for the ranting. Thanks so much to everyone here: I really do appreciate all the advice and support! I would like to be able to schedule something tomorrow for Monday or Tues at the latest. Throbbing teeth not helping my ability to reason here.