Do I really need a 3K dollar implant or am I being conned?

You don’t need an implant, but you probably need something done to the tooth before you get an abscess even if it’s just to get it extracted.

+1

My dentist tells me what my treatment should be, without suggesting alternatives or considering the impact of the various treatment options on my life. I don’t like that. When he told me I should have a molar pulled and then receive an implant, I took a couple weeks to consider the alternatives on my own, and then had him pull the tooth and leave the space. That course of action has worked out well for me.

It seems like you have two decisions to make:
Do you trust his diagnosis that the tooth is shot and needs to be pulled?
If the tooth is pulled, what should be the next step? (Implant, bridge, leave the space , etc.)

I have implants and I can assure you that between the post, the surgery and the crown, 3k is cheap. I love the implants – they cost more than root canal but they are permanent, you can eat what you want, they look just like regular teeth and from what I understand, root canal is not guaranteed to work. If you don’t have bone problems and you are not a big smoker or drinker, the implants should do well in your mouth.

The surgery sounds traumatic but believe me, it’s not and the recovery is relatively painless. Since this tooth is in the back of your mouth, you’ll just be without any tooth for about a max of six months while the bone heals and forms around the post. Nobody will see it, you won’t need a temporary crown. Then you get the crown put on, voila, just like your own tooth!

Thank you so very much for the encouraging words @jca . One other thing that’s positive about this nightmare is the DDS, MD uses both Propofol and Versed. This is what he used when he extracted a tooth that was in terrible condition last year; it didn’t hurt either. lol When I came to I was chatty and alert. I did wake up three times, amazingly, but had no discomfort.
Three thousand goes to the dental surgeon. How much the general dentist will charge is beyond me. I hate to think about it. In fact, he may be the guy who will place the crown over the post.
Life sucks and then you die.

Why would the dentist, who will have no financial gain from this, con you?

Might a bridge work? I know very little about these things, but I know people who have great success with implants and others who have discomfort. Although, the people I know with ongoing discomfort had a lot of teeth replaced.

Because an implant is a better choice than a bridge or a partial. You are going to lose the tooth, evidently. Implants are expensive but worth it.

The dentist said he could do a bridge for over five thousand dollars. Plus, he was in dental school with this dental surgeon and I think he gets kickbacks for each patient he sends to the specialist, @anniereborn. JMO

That is incredibly unethical and should be brought before the board of dentistry. The reasons for getting an implant are as @jca said. I can tell you each and every step of tooth implantation, or crown and bridge and pros and cons, failure rates, types of implants etc if you care to know. People often refer to people they know and trust, such as colleagues and classmates. If you have a suspicious turn of mind, ( and I am not inferring that you do), you might not be the best candidate for this type of surgery. If it’s a back tooth you may be best served and experience greater peace of mind just having it extracted and leaving it at that. Bear in mind that if it has an opposing tooth on the upper, that may extrude to compensate . Good luck to you.

I am not at all offended by having a “suspicious turn of mind.” It’s who I am. Regardless, the two of them would move mountains to collect thousands of dollars from their patients. And yes; I would just have it extracted were it the very last tooth in the back but I am finding that dentists put up all kinds of verbal roadblocks on the evils of extractions. They can talk for half an hour using very technical language that leaves your head spinning to the point that you defer to them and grab your checkbook just to get out of there. After that experience, I gave him $240 for two X-rays and a lot of dental jargon.