I have an abcessed tooth again.  I'm going to see the dentist this afternoon, and I think that rather than have a root canal done I'm going to have him yank it out. 

There's a reason for my decision to have it pulled.

First of all, I'm already missing a pre molar and a molar, thanks to the accident.  I asked about getting a partial to replace those teeth, but my last dentist said that he wasn't prepared to make me a partial until I had at least 3 teeth missing.  If I get this one pulled I should be able to get a partial.

Secondly, I'm going to end up needing all of my teeth replaced some time in the next 10 years or so.  When my mother was pregnant with me, she had total kidney failure and some of the meds she was given affected my teeth in utero.  The medications I'm on now also affect my teeth - they cause me to have a constantly dry mouth, which helps bacteria grow, and they affect my dentition in ways that I'm not really able to explain - it has to do with the chemical composition of the saliva that I *do* produce, or something like that.  Anyway, I'm going to be on meds of some kind or other for the rest of my life, so I'm eventually going to need my teeth either crowned or replaced.  It doesn't matter how much I brush and floss, I'm simply more susceptible to decay than the average person is.  To look at my teeth now, you'd never know that there was anything wrong with them, but if I were to show you an Xray of my mouth you'd be able to see the havoc these meds plus my mother's ill health are wreaking on the roots.

Seeing as crowns cost over a grand apiece and I don't have and am not willing to spend $26,000 -actually, my cost would be 50% of that because of the insurance, so I'd end up paying $13,000, which is still too much - on my mouth, I'm thinking that the decision to have this tooth pulled and a partial denture made is a good one.  Our dental insurance covers a greater percentage of a denture than it does of a crown, so it's less spendy for me.  I'd rather have dentures for me and be able to afford braces or retainers for my kids than have a mouth full of crowns and struggle to provide proper dental care for my children.

So, it looks like I'm getting a tooth yanked this afternoon.  I would normally say that I'm not looking forward to it, but this hurts sooooo bad that I'm kind of looking forward to being out of pain.