Cavity below gumline

I too have a cavity below the gumline on the rear molar. Said to either not be there or missed 9 months ago. There is evidence on an x-ray of an abscess. He says the tooth should be pulled sooner rather than later. As a 54 year-old who has never lost a tooth I would like to save it. Is it the cost that he might think I don't want to undertake or is there method to his madness? I presume the abscess can and should be treated first.

Unless it is a wisdom tooth, sometimes we do a gingival flap procedure to access the cavity, fill the cavity, then sew up the gum tissue. Without this, it is virtually impossible to see how deep the decay is. I would suggest doing this. If indeed the decay is so bad as to render the tooth non-restorable, the dentist can extract it instead of sewing the gum back up.

Chances are you have a young dentist who has not learned to do these sorts of procedures.

First step is to evaluate is tooth restorable