I do have dental insurance that covers up to 1500$ a year in dental work. But, it only covers half of any dental appliance, and that only every five years (last one was a couple of years ago), so this one appears to be all mine cost wise. I also have a collection of "permanent bridges" that had been attached to teeth which had root canals ( a few of which failed). A good point was made eralier about microtubules. There is a major difference between retaining a tooth over various periods of time and actually curing what ails you..

Kristi, I can totally empathize with your predicament. I had root scaling which seemed to set off the first infection (probably released it from where it was simmering)..both those teeth required immediate root canals.

The worst situation was a dentist who insisted I had to be numb (I wasnt) and proceeded to try to work on the tooth in spite of my protests, I lifted an arm to block him and he raised a fist in my face. He was so angry with me he was shaking when he injected that angle between the upper and lower jaw (it was a back molar) so visciously I oozed anesthetic from a salivary gland for months after.

If you have a good dentist it is more than half the battle. Seems like this is true with a lot of medical issues, eh?