Please help me....I have had a crown inserted many years ago, however, when it came off, my dentist informed me that there is a fracture in the tooth and I should therefore remove the tooth and think about a bridge, or denture. He also mentioned that any delay may infect the tooth (??). Now, my tooth does produce some sort of abcess, but does that mean I should go ahead and remove the tooth. What is my best solution? Any advice?? Please help. So confused as I really dont want to remove the tooth/crown and leave a gap. I cannot afford to get a denture or whatever...

i had a tooth pulled last week for a similar reason. i had a crown put on years ago - apparently when that dentist put the post in, he put it in too deep and it fractured the root of the tooth. an infection did grow and eventually ate through the bone, sort of burrowing a tunnel from the root to the side of my mouth. all this was pain free, if you can believe it. i too felt like it was 'unnecessary' to take the tooth since there wasn't any pain, but this little fistula on the side of my gums where the infection finally emerged convinced me. i'm going to have an implant put in. i suppose if you can't see the gap, you could just do nothing. i think a lot of people do that.

Hey Sueb: Thank you so very much for letting me know. It really helps to know how others have done with a similar problem. I suppose I should go and get the tooth pulled out even tho there is not much happening except that abcess that I can taste. I guess that is enough of reason....But thanks again!