Root Canal or not?!

Root Canal or not?

Several years ago, I got a filling for a cavity on my top rear tooth. Two years ago, it fell out and I had to get it refilled.

It fell out again a couple days ago, and when I went to a dentist, he said I had to get a root canal because there was a cavity getting really close to my nerve.

The problem is I'm not insured, and so it's going to cost around $1000, and that's not even including the crown, or the post he said I'll have to get.

I can't afford that, so is it possilbe for me to just get a really big filling or something? What happens if your filling touches your nerve?

Plust, I don't think I can really trust this dentist because he's young and fresh out of school, and just bought his building.

What should I do?

1 month ago
I forgot to mention some rasons why I couldn't trust him.

He told me I had 10 cavities after my exam, upon questioning him closely, I didn't have 10 cavities, I have 10 places that were close to becomming cavities. And he was intending on charging me for them as cavities.

OK, here's what I'd offer you in my office. Remove the decay and hope that it doesn't go into the nerve. If it does and it's minor I'd put what is like a band-aid over it and then a bonded filling. This will seal everything up and will give the tooth a chance to heal. If it doesn't heal and dies [the dentist can check the nerve condition with a pulp tester] then I'd offer you the root canal treatment. Sometimes the x-ray shows things to be worse than they are [sometimes better than they are too!]. If the decay does not go into the nerve then just a GOOD bonded filling will take care of it and it should NOT fall out. If the decay goes into the nerve, and is not a minor exposure, then you are looking at either a root canal and crown or extraction. Good luck!