any dentists or dental professionals, please help?

i have a problem with my teeth, numbers 4&5 i believe. number 5 i had a root canal on several years ago, but never crowned it & it started to decay so my dentist put a filling in it to "tide me over". last year # 4 started to hurt badly and he sent me to an endodlogist who took xrays and said that the filling was really close to the nerve, but didn't mention that there was any abscess-and offered to do a root canal. I don't have dental insurance to pay for a root canal and 2 crowns, so i was going to get a partial, but my dentist wouldn't pull them because he said i was too young to be missing so many teeth. i woke up this morning and my gums and cheek are swollen around that area and it is very painful to bite down and chew-i can only assume that it is an abscess on # 4 i do have antibiotics-because i know that they won't perform anything until the infection is cured, but what should i do once it goes away? bridge, partial, or take out a loan for the root canal & crowns? thanks!
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As a dentist myself it sounds like you have a very serious problem on your hands. Most likely you do have an abscess, although we usually like to treat these teeth after antibiotics have had time to start working you might want to consider calling your regular dentist (or a new dentist) for an emergency appointment- you will still need to be placed on antibiotic therapy, but if the tooth needs to be extracted then your dentist might want go ahead and pull the tooth immediately (depending on how bad the situation is). For your situation it sounds like you might need a new dentist, we do usually like for a person to keep as many natural teeth as possible, but sometimes finances etc play a big part in the decision and your dentist should listen to YOU and how you are feeling. If you can't get an appointment with your dentist then you might should consider a trip to your local ER until you can see him/her, this way the ER physician will be able to begin you on antibiotics until you can been seen by your dentist. Until then try taking Motrin (ibuprofen) for pain, this will help reduce and swelling and will also help relieve pain. Also use cold compresses, NEVER use hot/warm compresses as this can cause a possible infection to worsen and spread more rapidly. Good luck and PLEASE see a dentist or ER doctor as soon as possible as an abscess is a very serious and possibly life threatening condition if not treated.
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