Anyone ever been diagnosed by a dentist for root reabsoption?

@tennisgolf You do have a dilemma, for sure. Since you are a "healthy 70+" you do want to maintain your dental health, as @debbraw has commented. I agree with her, hopefully some type of financial plan can be worked out for you. Perhaps your income level would qualify you for some financial assistance on it. Frankly, I know nothing about what could be available but it seems as if something should be. I am sure you are doubtful about returning to a dental college clinic, but I know people who have had great work done at some of the ones in Boston. You had a bad experience but that doesn't mean that you would again. If you talk to them at the clinic and tell them about your prior experience perhaps they would make sure you got one of their more qualified students, about to graduate.

This is a really crazy idea, but my sister goes to a senior center and one of the women has had work done in Mexico. She flies to Texas and actually walks over the border to the dental clinic. She went there before for preliminary work, and is about to return to have the work completed. Even with the flights from here it is much less costly than having the work done here. She goes all alone too. I don't think I could do that but we never know what we might do if we are desperate. Apparently she is.

Good luck with this. I will be very interested in hearing what you decide. I hope you at least talk to the doctor about giving you a better rate and allowing you to pay over time, and also to someone at the dental clinic to see if you could go there with a guarantee of getting one of the most experienced students.
JK

@ debbraw and tennisgolf

I’m in Florida also and my main dentist is expensive but has done beautiful crown work over the years. I have had a cracked tooth that I wasn’t aware of that showed up on a visual exam and a regular X-ray. The crack was on the surface. I have a hard bite and over the course of my 70 plus years I guess it was bound to happen. A crown was ultimately put on it....again I had no pain but didn’t want to risk infection or further deterioration.

The CT will enable the dentist to see if the crack is above or below the bone. The tooth can be saved if it above the bone by a root canal and then either a bore filling or a crown. If it is below the bone, the tooth can’t be saved and an implant is a possibility.

I’ve gone through a CT recently at an endodontist. I had pain in one tooth and ultimately a root canal and an apioectomy to cut off the bottom of the root to prevent future infection and then back to my regular dentist for a permanent bore filling. When the scan or imaging was done the results showed the tooth could be saved. So I’m guessing this is the concern of the Doctor and if it is, you should have been told that.

I know what you mean about the expense and I sometimes feel my dentist goes to the expensive extreme. I have negotiated discounts with the office on more than one occasion as I don’t have dental insurance and have also taken other less expensive options over the years. I figure a particular option will work for me now for a while and maybe for a long while. I also get periodontal maintenance every 4 months. They wanted every 3 months, I said no, every 4 is fine.

It’s natural to get shell shocked when you hear the prices quoted and then begin to wonder if you really need all this.

Personally, knowing what I know from my experience, I would go for the scan. I’m annoyed I needed 2 crowns, a root canal and an apioectomy this year so far to the tune of $6000 (endodontist alone was about $3). Last year was hearing aids. Insane. I wish you luck.

Regards from Mary Queen of Crowns

I wonder if there are any updates in this conversation. I was just diagnosed with resorption in THREE neighboring teeth and am quite distraught. Since the only explanation given was an unexplained autoimmune issue, I am terrified that this is only the beginning of major tooth loss for me. I can’t get my head around this, especially since there is no pain at this point and I have excellent health. I do have osteoporosis, but both the dentist and the endodontist nixed that connection. So….wait for pain before extraction? Root canal the one tooth that isn’t as far progressed as the others? Implants? Partial dentures?

Good morning @glojo Resorption in teeth can happen for a number of reasons. First, can you tell me what kind of resorption is happening? Was this seen on xray and the roots are becoming shorter?
Do you remember having any impact to this area or extensive dental treatment to those teeth that are involved?
How about location…front teeth, molars in the back? Top arch or lower?

You mentioned having osteoporosis. Are you taking any medication to rebuild bone?

Three teeth on lower right, incisor and behind, found on routine xray, internal resorption. The roots and the pulp are affected. I have never had orthodontics or any injury to the area. I am not on any medications. The dentist and endo say that many times there is no explanation. That’s hard for me to accept, given I am in excellent health otherwise.

I read some horror stories about root canal - one was a young woman I know - so when my back molar started giving me problems I just got it extracted. My husband had root canal and eventually lost that tooth too, after some years of treatment, getting a crown, etc. it was more costly in the long run than if he had just had the tooth extracted.

That’s just my take - you know your situation better, so the decision of extraction vs. root canal should be entirely yours.

Oh … one thing - personally, I wouldn’t do is go across the border to Mexico for any type of surgery - even minor! Heard and read about a lot of horror stories about even minor surgeries! Post operative complications are not worth the money saved!

Yes, one should take care of one's teeth! And go to the right specialist. A Board certified
Endodontist makes root canals easy.
Living in Minnesota it was easy to find qualified Endodontists, Periodontists, Prosthodontists. Then I retired to Florida. I went to a Florida Periodontist who wanted to do bone graft even though I did not want an implant (had trigeminal neuralgia on that side and never will touch again). He gave me ten days of Amoxicillin and on the 10th day I developed C-diff and ended up in hospital for a week. Later I found out he was not Board certified in periodontics, just a general dentist who decided to practice periodontics. Being board certified means they have done the additional training.