A crown on tooth 2 broke while I was eating, and I bit down on a piece
of it, breaking another tooth on the opposite side. The dentist who
had done the crown is no longer practicing here, so I went to a new
dentist near my home rather than to one of the other dentists in the
office where he used to practice. The new dentist told me that the
root canal on tooth 2 was never finished, and she pulled a wad of
cotton out of the root canal. This crown is about 7 years old, but it
had come off a few times before, once when I was out of town and had
to see another dentist who took an Xray and also told me the root
canal was not finished. When I returned to my regular dentist I gave
him the Xray and told him what the out-of town dentist said. My
regular dentist said it was finished and he was putting a post in the
tooth and using a different kind of cement so it would not come off
again. Since then it has broken twice, and the dentist replaced it at
no charge. My new dentist said she did not think the root canal could
be successfully done now because the tooth is "too far gone," and
recommended that I see an oral surgeon to have it extracted. She did
the build-up for a crown on the tooth I broke, and I was very pleased
with her work, So I have two questions: First, since I don't know the
new dentist well, should get a second opinion from a specialist on
whether the tooth can be saved, or is that something that I can assume
she is correct about? Second, if the problem resulted from poor
procedures on the original work and the tooth has to be extracted,
should I return to the previous dentist's office and see whether they
would cover some of the expenses of an implant or some kind of bridge
work? I don't think the cotton was a mistake, as my previous dentist
was in the building where I worked and we were on friendly terms,
seeing each other every day. He was from Lebanon and was educated in
Europe, and I suspect he thought the procedure he used was sufficient.
Right now the root canal is open, as my new dentist said I have a
slight infection and it would be best not to seal it up, but I need to
decide what to do  without waiting too long. I would greatly
appreciate any advice.

David