Welcome to Neuro Talk. There will be others that come by to help you with this too. Bryanna is the most knowledgable. It is my understanding, that once you have a root canal, the tooth is basically being retained just for a period of time. They can't get rid of the infection, even with a re-do of the root canal, and another crown. The tooth deep in the crevices retains some of the infection no matter what they do. The dentists don't tell you that. Eventually, the tooth will cause more problems and more infections, and more money. There is alot of money to be made with this process, and yet the tooth is still not healthy. I decided along time ago, knowing this to remove the tooth that was infected for me, rather than to spend the money and re-do on a situation that really doesn't have a resolution. If this infection you have, has been going on this long, I would consider having it removed. Your infection will go away, and gums will heal, and you won't have a risk of further infections. Nobody wants to loose a tooth, but it is better than the infections that seems to repeat. I do wish you all the best, and hope you go to a different practice for another opinion. I hope they tell you the truth. ginnie