I know what you mean. Yesterday I went to my dentist because I had this small growth on my gum. It was directly below a tooth that I had capped around 7 years ago. Just a short history, I have never had tooth problems, not even cavities, but years ago I bit into a McDonalds Qtr. Pounder and came in contact with a small brass bolt. This, of course, was way before we were all sue happy. I showed it to the manager, he shrugged his shoulders and walked away. So did I. I few days later I went to my dentist because it was very cold sensitive. They used some resin type stuff that was cured by ultra violet light. Believe it or not that lasted for over 20 year, then I bought a bubble gum ball on a whim, bit into it and cracked the tooth again.
All that for this... I had it repaired and a crown put on. It never has felt right, but, never really a problem. Then this little "bump" showed up. I didn't really react to it for around 5 months then last week when I had a physical I had my doctor look at it and she recommended that I go to my dentist. I did.. they figured out that I had an abscess under the tooth and that I needed one of two things. A root canal or extraction. They pushed hard for the root canal because getting an appliance to fill in the missing space would end up casting me as much anyway. (btw... $1250.00 for the root canal) I have no dental insurance since I retired. When I suggested that they just pull it out ($300.00) you would have thought that I had kidnapped their grandmother. Oh, you can't do that. I look around and see many people that just had teeth pulled out with no obvious problem. It is a molar in the back of my mouth (next to last) it doesn't show unless I am yelling at someone. Anyway, it's a $900.00 difference in price. So if anyone has any stories. Even nightmare types about either procedure, please share them. I really am getting tired of throwing good money after bad. Dental things is an area where I have had almost no experience except cleaning and that crown. Yes, I do consider that a blessing.