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I currently have 5 dental abscesses. One is giving me problems.

 
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  • Answered by:Dr.Katz
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Customer Question

I currently have 5 dental abscesses. One is giving me problems. Its the tooth in the very back on the top left of my mouth. When I apply pressure to the tooth, it sends an extremely sharp pain to my temple. I've been quoted over $8,000 to have surgical extractions.

I cannot afford the surgery. And my credit score is so low I cannot get approved for CareCredit. So I have no clue as to how to get financial help for the procedure.


My question is.. is there any risk of this kind of infection being fatal?
And how would you recommend I seek financial help for this type of surgery?

 

Optional Information:
Person's Gender: Male
Person's Age: 28

Already Tried:
Amoxicillan, Fresh Garlic Cloves applied to the tooth in pain, 800mg of Ibuprofen every 6-8 hours.

Submitted: 359 days and 9 hours ago.
Category: Dental
Value: $17
Status: CLOSED
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Expert:  Dr.Katz replied359 days and 4 hours ago.

Welcome to Justanswer.I will do my best to answer your question.I am not a great typist,be patient and feel free to ask if anything is unclear.The price tha tyou were quoted for having 5 teeth extracted is preposterous.I am not sure where in the US that you live ,but the average price for a surgical extraction is about $250.That would bring your costs down to $1250 assuming that they are all surgical.Some of them would not be bringing the price down even lower.With that being said,yes, abcessed teeth can lead to serious facial infections and in rare cases can be fatal.You either need to call some other dental offices in your area that are not in the business of ripping people off or try the Dental School that is closest to your area.The students there to a good job,you will get good care and save a considerable amount of money.I would be interested to know how they even arrived at such an astronomical figure for doing five extractions.That is totally over the top,and I have never heard of such a thing.If your funds are that low,many states have financial medical assistance provided by the states social services system,you may want to apply for aid through them if you have no credit.

Customer replied359 days and 1 hours ago.

Actually, I apologize I wasn't more clear. The $8,000 quote was not only for 5 surgical extractions. The entire procedure consists of 8 surgical extractions, 4 root canals and then "rebuilding" (as they called it) the remaining teeth. I'm not sure if this is worth $8,000. I have considered a dental school. However, I'm worried about the lack of knowledge a student would have as opposed to a dentist that has been practicing for 10+ years. I guess I'm worried there's more risk of something going wrong in the hands of a student.

I've been living in St Augustine, FL for about 2 years. I just recently learned about a free Clinic here. However they only do regular extractions, not surgical. I didn't know that social services could help but that is something I will definitely look into.

The sad part of the story is I am a professional actor with 10 feature films / television series under my belt. However, I had to stop acting in 2003 because my teeth got too bad to be on screen anymore. Do you think there is any possible chance a dentist might be interested in working in return for a percentage of my yearly salary for the next 3 years? If I can get back to work, that would end being 10 times the amount of the procedure. Its almost like an investment with 10 times the return. If you think a dentist would go for it, I'll look around and ask.

Also, If you know of any dentists in the St Augustine, FL or Jacksonville, FL area that you'd like to recommend, please feel free. Thanks so much for your time.

Accepted Answer

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Expert:  Dr.Katz replied359 days and 1 hours ago.

A dentist with 10 years experience would always be your best bet.The dental school students are supervised but it takes an extremely long time to get things done because every step must be checked.You are young and need to try to save the teeth that you can but at the same time do something that is affordable.It sounds as if you may have some genetic predisposition for decay because at your age to be walking around with that many abcesses is not normal.You should probably consider the extractions as your prime concern right now and getting rid of the infection.The longer you leave abcessed teeth in your mouth,the more bone that you lose.The more bone that you lose,the less chance of having something to work with to restore the missing teeth.You should consider a partial denture at this point to at least give you some function and looks.I am in Maryland and I do not know of anyone in Florida that would be willing to make the type of deal that you are proposing.Most dentists will work with you if you can come up with a lump sum to start.Concentrate on getting those infected teeth out of your mouth ASAP..or I am afraid you will have hospital bills coming on top of your dental bills.I am sorry that I cannot give you better news.Please ask if there are any further questions

Expert TypeDentist DDS
Category: Dental
Pos. Feedback: 98.6 %
Accepts: 1451
Answered: 6/25/2012

Experience: Dentist and Anesthesiologist for 33 years

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