OK. It turns out the endodontist was not entirely forthcoming with me, and left it to my family dentist to break the bad news. Seeing a periodontist is probably just a "Hail Mary" play -- a long shot at best. There is probably a hairline fracture in one of the roots of my tooth, the one which previously had a root canal in 1998. Turns out that endodontically treated teeth can become brittle over time. The hairline fracture allows in bacteria, the infection becomes an abscess, and there you are. Or rather, there I am.
There is usually no viable periodontic treatment. Seeing a periodontist is strictly to cover everybody's ass so they can say we tried everything. I am most likely going to lose a tooth that has cost me almost two large to save over the years.
There are four options open to me. One: Have the tooth extracted, and then do nothing and live with a hole which will probably cause me to ultimately lose every tooth behind it. Two: Get a partial bridge for around a thousand dollars and live with the discomfort of having a single false tooth. Three: Get an implant to replace it. Cost of an implant is $3,100.00 plus the new crown that goes on top. Figure four Gs. Or Four: Get something called a fixed bridge. It's three false teeth together in one unit -- #1 gets mounted on the tooth in front of the hole and #3 gets mounted on the tooth behind the hole, with #2 filling in the gap. Cost of a fixed bridge is $810 per tooth, so $2,430.00. The advantage of the fixed bridge is that you don't have to take it in and out at night.
If you'd care to leave your thoughts in the comments section, I would love to hear them.
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