have tooth #4 which is an anchor to a 5 tooth bridge that according to dentist has a large cavity under the crown and quickly says it need to be extracted. Needless to say I do not want to extract it unless there is no other way. The Xray shows a slight gray in the bone at the root end. Its not inflamed and does not hurt unless I floss it or brush it.

I would like to see if there is ANYWAY to save it. I mentioned root canal and he said no he says he can probe through the teeh now. So the 1st question: is there anyway to save it?

Assuming I have to extract it a dentist has offered he could extract it w/o removing the bridge leaving me with a working set of teeth. Of course this would leave the bridge anchored only in tooth #2 and 6 with 3&5 pundits and the extracted 4 socket making it less sturdy and more prone to failure. Will Taking it out this way involve additional trauma or the same as normal extraction. He mentioned he would extract it in pieces?

The other choice he gave me was to cut the bridge extract 4 and place an implant in 3 and 5 with a 3 teeth bridge anchored in the implants in 3 & 5 and 4 as a pundit.
He mentined he would need to do a sinus lift in # 3 which I'm not too happy to hear. My 3D Xray shows I have 5 mm of bone depth in 3 before reaching the sinus .
Can I not have a 5 mm Bicon implant in there w/o the sinus lift?
Can I have instead an implant in 4 and replace the bridge with 4 6 &2 as anchors as before? This will entail only one implant and the bridge can be done with Trinia fiber re-inforced composite material by Bicom that is strong and somewhat flexible that will help on the minor movement of the natural teeth. I know most professionals don't like to do this but some do.

I also I'm concerned with the darker area in the bone shown on the Xray. Will the doctor need to debride the bone to get the infection so he can do the bone graft or can he do it w/o debriding and rely on the antibiotic?

I'm a senior citizen and trying to use the less invasive procedure with the lesser trauma possible and minimum or no drugs although I'm in good health.

Ultimately what would be your recommendation if you were treating me?