Hello Daylia.

At the risk of being grouped with your overall opinion of money grubbing dentists, I would be happy to give you a complete opinion of your situation if you are willing to provide any additional information. 1 Which tooth is it? 2Why did the dentist say it needs surgically treated? 3 is there a crown on the tooth? 4 is the dentist who is going to retreat it the same one who originally treated it? HOw long did the treatment work?

I am presently working on my sister-in-law who has been mismanaged by her regular dentist and has spent about $3000 on a tooth that should have NEVER been worked on except to extract it and figure out another solution as it is probably long-term a failure. HAving said that, I can tell you generically that sometimes an apicoectomy is the appropriate thing to do, but each situation must stand on its own merets.

Just reading between the lines, though, it seems that you had an abscessed tooth that someone treated for you for money and it has worked successfully for several years. I cannot speak for all dentists, as there are unscrupulous people in all walks of life, but lots of us are just out here doing the best we can to help people solve their problems. Rarely are we the cause of the problem.