I always choose the less complicated option. You have nothing to lose to starting out with repairing the filling. Wouldn't a root canal be needed for a crown anyway?

Unfortunately there are dentists who prey on people's anxieties and look for opportunities to up sell more treatment than may be necessary. I suspect those who do so would have found your situation very amendable to that - you were a walk-in patient, a part time resident, and wanting to have an acute problem remedied in what may be a one-off encounter. No better way to get new business than to treat a walk-in already sitting in the chair. I'm not saying that's what happened for you, maybe the situation being looked at is ambiguous and subject to different assessments. But what I described happens too often.

I'd go with what your home area dentist said. More can always been done if found later to be necessary. The investment his approach is designed to enhance is his long-term relationship with you, not an account at Charles Schwab.

I take Yelp ratings about services with a grain of salt. If a customer was upsold, lied to, overcharged, or if the work could be found by another to be deficient or unnecessary, the customer may never know. But the rating would be often based upon responsiveness and courtesy. Hmm.

I've had several crowns and never a root canal and will not have one.

Raye, my dentist was just explaining worse case scenarios.

He did exactly the right thing by just polishing down the snag from the filling.

The point of this post was that I might have gone along with the Florida dentist if I stayed there longer.

Zalco, yes I agree.

Elmer, exactly.

"I've had several crowns and never a root canal and will not have one."

I'm not sure if you've expressed your thought here clearly or if I understand. But if the tissue inside a tooth is seriously infected, the two choices are to have a root canal procedure done (best if done by an endodontist) or to have the tooth pulled. Doing nothing will lead to worse problems.

I developed a pulp infection caused by a cracked tooth. I had a root canal done by an endodontist, my first, and it was a relatively easy and certainly painless experience. To say "never" is pretty extreme, why do you feel that way? Pulling the tooth and presumably getting it replaced is more involved, more painful and also more expensive.

A more serious possibility is a severe abscess that infects the jaw bone, bone loss and if it is an upper tooth an infection in the sinus that could potentially kill you. Not saying that would happen. An abscess can also give you an infection in a heart valve and potentially shorten your life. Suddenly a root canal doesnt sound that bad?

I knew a dentist's wife (my dentist at the time by the way) who made her husband take a series of seminars about increasing his income that included doing any and every sort of expensive work. Upselling procedures. He was very resistant and they got divorced. She wanted more income. She told me this stuff as if it were perfectly reasonable.

Yes.

You're

Cold it go back to days of yore?

I've had dentists try to upsell procedures. I also "had" a dental assisting certificate...and declined to enter into the industry just for THIS reason. On the other hand....I really like my dentist and trust her.

Believe me, if you ever have a horrendous toothache, you will be begging for a root canal.

My Ex was a dentist. He had his faults but was very good at what he did. Dentists are doctors. It takes just as many years to complete dental school as medical school. Dentists aren’t shysters out to upsell you. Yes, there are a few, but no more than in any other profession. No doubt that some dentists are more skilled than others.

Eld, I’m surprised you got such differing opinions. That much decay should show clearly on an X-ray.

I was once told I had a cavity. It was the end of the year so I opted to wait until the the new year started to deal with it since our insurance was changing. New dentist said I had no cavity/

Dedtired, yes there is good honest dentists out there, but there seems to be a trend of increasing shysters out there. My hubby and I have experienced one. Friends and family have experienced it. There was also an old thread on this very subject with several people telling their story with a shyster dentist. Years ago you never heard of this, but unfortunately it is becoming more prevalent.

"It takes just as many years to complete dental school as medical school."

This is true, but after 4 years of dental school, a dentist can go into a general practice without further training. Some do 1 or 2 year residencies for general dentistry but most don't. Almost all (95+%) medical doctors do at least 3 more years in a residency for primary care training, many (as for surgeons and other specialties) require even more time than that.

Only dentists who become specialists - like endodontists, periodontists, pediatric dentists, orthodontists, prosthodontists - do residencies of 2 or a few more years. Also oral surgeons, some but not all of which residencies involve going to medical school as part of the training to get an MD on top of the DDS.

There are many, many honest dentists. The degree of fact bending and upselling doesn't seem to vary with age, there are plenty of older chiselers around as well as younger ones.

I've always wondered why something being "like root canal" means that it's extremely unpleasant. I've had a couple of root canals, and while they're no fun, they're not that bad.

I had a root canal on a lower incisor back in December. It was 100% pain-free. With my current dental insurance it cost me $5. :)

My current dentist is "watching" my upper left wisdom tooth, which has a filling in it. He said the last xrays show the filling will probably need to be replaced at my next visit. He is afraid the spot where the filling is, is very close to the pulp. He said I could have a root canal, or I could have it extracted. My choice. I said I'd pull it and he said he agreed, since the tooth is so small, and so far back in my jaw. He's honest, and he's not out to make $$$.

I've known several people how have ended up with septicemia several years after having a root canal. I'd much rather go with an implant.

Dh once had a dentist who kept telling him that his crowns needed replacing. We thought something must be amiss so switched dentists; the new one said there were no cracked crowns.

I think of dentists as I do auto mechanics: the bad ones can tell us work needs to be done when this is not true, and most of us are none the wiser. Luckily we've had a good dentist for 15 years now and I hope he won't retire anytime soon!

"I've known several people how have ended up with septicemia"

That's rather uncommon. I'll bet that's more likely when the procedure is done by a general dentist rather than an endodontist (with advanced training to do such procedures) who does them all day, day after day and has the right equipment.

Having a tooth extracted then later having a post implanted can be more involved procedures and are not without risks and potential side effects. Here too, when properly done, side effects and problems are not common.

I had my first run in with an UPseller Dentist about forty years ago. He wanted to replace all my fillings. He did beautiful work but you never knew for sure if what he did was needed. The next as mentioned above was twenty five years ago. Remember he did not go along with his wife's wants though he did attend the seminars. My present dentist is more likely to down sell. I just had a crown done on a tooth he repaired about twenty years ago when I first moved here. We debated a crown at the time. He decided we would repair and keep an eye on it. He is a great dentist and a great person who doesnt want to retire ever. His first name is Hansrolf. Who wouldn't want a dentist named Hansrolf? His partner is a Tristan.