Nope. The dentist told me to keep taking ibuprofen. I asked if I could take a higher dose and he said no.
I’ve just recently had the same diagnosis. No pain, but showed up on xray.
They want to pull the tooth. I want a second opinion.
Decades ago I broke my two front teeth on a low set iron fence post. I’ve had plastic caps since with no problem. Well one of them broke and had decay where I still had tooth. I was supposed to get a root canal on my right front tooth. I couldn’t afford it even with insurance. I had to have it pulled. I got a flipper ( the dental assistant calls them "party teeth.)
I’m very glad you could afford the correct care. Good news is my new insurance covers root canals and periodontal work. A bit late for my front tooth 
but I have an eye tooth that my dentist says is dead, so there is that.
I’ve had at least 8 root canals done by 5 different dentists. One of them told me back in the 1980s that I have “putrescent pulp”; from what I see on Google that’s a term going back to the early 1900s.
The easiest and most straightforward of all my root canals was done at a practice with 3 or 4 endodontists who had loads of specialized equipment, so your drive to the endodontist, even though it’s a trek, is worthwhile.
Smart. I got a second opinion and at least it gave me piece of mind.
I’m in the same boat as OP, but at least I can afford the root canal now instead of having to have the tooth pulled like I did several times when I was younger. It’s gonna wipe out my FSA for the year, though.
Whoever decided that dentistry should be an entirely different profession from the rest of medicine with its own kind of insurance that isn’t as good as medical insurance should be forced to suffer an untreated abscess. Fixing this tooth is literally going to cost me more out-of-pocket than spending a week in the hospital with hypovolemic shock did after I got rotavirus in 2023 and lost about 20 pounds of water weight in 24 hours.
Amen.
Sorry to hear about your pain. I have been through the gamut of dental procedures, finally ending with implants top and bottom.
My non-professional opinion is keep the tooth if you’re able. Even if you can’t see the gap when you smile, removing even one tooth eventually affects your whole bite. It doesn’t sound like your doc is recommending that but it was mentioned so that’s my .02 on that.
You’ve had it done before so you know what to expect. Heck, it may even be easier this time; who knows what advances the doc has made since last time.
You can also prepare for it by taking supplements for a couple of weeks, pre-surgery. Before I had every tooth in my mouth removed, my doc had me taking Bromelaine for inflammation and Arnica Montana for pain and inflammation. I know I was less swollen and bruised than I had expected to be. These are homeopathic and won’t harm you, but you should probably ask your doc. Did I mention I am not a licensed medical professional?
Good luck.
Pass the plate… literally. 
Back from the appointment with good news and bad news. Good is the endodontist did a pulp extirpation, which has reduced the pain from agonising to manageable. She showed me a picture of the hollow inside of my tooth. 
Bad is the tooth has a crack in it. It doesn’t go into the root as far as she can see, so it should still be possible to do a root treatment and crown it, but since I’m relatively young (early 40s), it’s not going to last the rest of my life. I guess it’s probably still worth it, so I’ve booked another appointment for the root treatment. Unfortunately the earliest available is in two weeks time; I hope the tooth holds up till then. I’ll also need to get it crowned immediately, rather than waiting a few months for it to heal like with the other one. That means I’ll have wasted more money and suffered through more treatment if it fails.
Thanks for the good wishes everyone.
How did your double crown installation go, @Chefguy?
(Because of the thread content I read your name as TriMolar)
Do people often get general anesthesia (what you’d get for open heart surgery, etc.) for any dental procedures? I am especially dental-phobic and had to work for over a year to finally arrange to get dental work done with GA. It was almost impossible for me to get as it’s usually only offered to e.g. 4 year-olds with autism.
I’ve not heard of it as something regularly used for a molar extraction. I think normally they’d use IV sedation (sometimes called 'twilight sedation) like they often do for wisdom teeth removal.
I’m heading out the door in about ten minutes.
Good luck!
I don’t know the details. When I had my wisdom teeth removed over half a century ago they put me under with pentothal. Other extractions I had I wasn’t so heavily sedated, but I wasn’t getting 4 giant molars out at once either. I don’t think the average dentist can used anything that strong at all, at least not where I’ve lived. Besides their own qualifications they need someone with more training than an ordinary dental assistant. I don’t think the endodontists and other specialists are interest in fillings, crowns, and other regular dental work so it probably is difficult to find someone. Any dental schools in your area? Maybe they’re prepared for that kind of work. That is if you don’t mind being used for practice.
Today was the easy part: just seating the permanent crowns and cleaning up. All the grinding, drilling, pick and shovel work was done a couple of weeks ago. The really hard part was getting back into my car. The parking lot is small, and it had a lot of cars in it. Someone parked so close to me that I couldn’t get in on the driver’s side. So I had to get in from the other side and climb over the console. Not easy for a 77-year old.
There are pain free dentist who regularly sedate you. I searched high and low and found one for my young adult daughter. As a teen she needed some minor work and her wisdom teeth out.
They were very pleasant and easy on her. The atmosphere is completely different in those places.
The Lil’wrekker says the best part is it doesn’t smell like a dental office.
She still goes there for all her check ups and cleanings. They ask her everytime if she’s ok being awake for cleaning. It seems like there are people who cannot be awake for that. Go figure?
Not a dental issue, but a foot issue, a dog of mine chewed up my best shoes. And when I took them to the shoe store to get the same pair again they told me “We love dogs”
Oh yeah. I found the grinding really painful because the dentist went under the gum, and the temporary crown just… didn’t work. It filled up with food and kept coming off. I ended up leaving it off and just eating extremely carefully until the permanent one was ready, When the dentist put it in, it felt enormous, like a pebble in my mouth, but I soon got used to it.
We keep getting leaflets through the door for a dentist that claims to be extremely gentle and good for nervous patients, but I’m not sure if they do sedation. It’s common for wisdom tooth extractions, but nothing else AFAIK. Wish I’d been out for mine, it was pretty traumatic.
I find it hard to believe teeth cleaning could have enough benefit to justify the risk of a general anaesthetic.
I imagine it’s a Valium for teeth cleanings.
She generally drives herself so she goes cold turkey.
Ah, that makes more sense. Wish I hadn’t had to drive, but the trains don’t link up sensibly. I woke up in pain at 4:45am, and was so exhausted when I got back I just napped until it was time to pick my daughter up.