How do I go about finding an affordable dentist in San Diego to fix this tooth?

For whatever it's worth, you may be over-estimating how much more complicated the bad filling issue will make the procedure. A few months ago I had all my wisdom teeth out, and two of them were badly decayed at the time. The oral surgeon said that didn't make a difference, it was still a very simple procedure. Of course, depending on your roots, you may have a different experience. But I wanted to throw that out there in case it reassures you at all. My dental insurance is decent but not great, and the whole thing cost me $98 for all four teeth, the full-on general anesthesia I opted for because I am a baby about pain, and the follow-up visit the next week. If you can scrape up the cash for a couple of office visit co-pays, I'd recommend that you go ahead and visit your dentist, and then an oral surgeon if she/he recommends one. They should be able to work up a quote for how much they'll charge for your particular situation. If it's out of the range of what you can afford, dental ...  more

Some anecdotal info for your cause. My ex had a wisdom tooth go bad about 4 years ago. It hadn't been filled before, and wasn't impacted, but suddenly started causing him a world of hurt (I'd never seen a 28 year old man cry like a little girl before). After rounding up some Vicoden from my neighbor, the nurse, I called my dentist who I love and trust. Over the phone, he was able to determine that my ex probably needed to go to an oral surgeon, and we were able to get an appointment set up for the next morning with someone my dentist recommended. The cost for extraction for one wisdom tooth with general anesthesia was $850. This is in NYC.  more

A bit more info about CareCredit based on being with someone who used it for some serious dental bills... It's like a credit card. If your dentist takes it, you put your dental bill on to the Care Credit card and make payments, there is a minimum payment every month. I'm not sure what their deal is now, and read the fine print, but at the time we were using it the deal was no interest for the first year so you'd just make regular payments, they'd send you bills. After the first year the interest made a BIG HOP to 25-29% (can't remember) and it's retroactive in some weird way. The additional thing to know is that if you make the minimum payments, you will not pay off the bill in 12 months so you have to make your own calculations about whether paying the interest is worth it, or whether making larger payments is a better deal for you. While my idea of dental prices is only based on my own experience at the low cost clinic in Seattle, I got a root canal of a non-infected tooth and it ...  more

I am not a Dentist. I used to manage a dental office. No one in their right mind is going to quote you any kind of price for a dental procedure on the internet. It sounds like you've not been to a dentist in over a year. Go. You may need an oral surgeon, but you need to see a regular dentist first. Get a radiographic film of the tooth. You may also need a pano film because it's a wisdom tooth and because the bone back there does amazing stuff, and because if the wisdom tooth roots are tangled up with another tooth's roots, you'll need to know all of that when making treatment planning decisions. While you're deciding which dentist to use, check out www.CareCredit.com They can help you finance the dental care, adn can give you a list of dentists local to you that accept the plan. Do Not, Under any Circumstances choose you dentist only because they accept Care Credit. Pick a professional that you trust, and have a good rapport with. When you say "in bursts" I think, infection. So, you ...  more