Firts, the disclaimer: I'm no dentist. However, I have had three abscessed teeth and I guess three (maybe 4?) root canals on those teeth.

Before you start thinking that I'm a walking trenchmouth, let me tell you that my household nickname is the Dental Floss Nazi. I am a psycho about dental hygiene. My children went to a pediatric dentist when they were 6 months old.

However, my genes are such that I got my dad's crummy teeth.

My first abscess was so bad that it went into my jawbone and made my face swell up like in the cartoons. The infection was hard to get rid of -- the dentist was afraid that it would indeed get into my bloodstream (?) and be really bad. I was on an antibiotic that is routinely used in inner-city emergency rooms to treat victims of belly gunshot wounds. <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

The next two abscesses were probably caused by my habit of teeth grinding (bruxism) at night. I never knew I did it. I'll spare you the mechanics of how that causes an abscess, but....

...the bottom line, as I understand it, is once you have an infection within the tooth, it rarely gets better unless the cause is treated. Antibiotics are routinely prescribed for an abscess, but that's just to whip back the infection so an endodontist can get in there and do root canal therapy (pull the tooth, dig out the root from it and your jaw, pack it with special materials like tiny toothpicks, then replace & cement the tooth in its original spot). For this they are usually extremely well-paid, and worth every penny. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

My personal horror story would be the situation you described. And I would probably try to pull the darn thing.

Ewww, I just don't even want to think about it!