Crazy Tooth

So I have this crazy tooth. 12 years ago, the crazy thing decided to commit suicide and it is dying from the inside out and eating away the bone in the process .This is a condition called resorption. How insane is that!!!! I have two different dentists who have been saving the tooth (had to have it capped). They were always upfront with me that one day the entire thing might need to go. Whenever I heard this, I became nauseous with the thought. It never looked perfect, but i dealt with it and no one ever noticed something wasn't right except me.

A few days ago, I had a raging headache and noticed the crazy tooth was smashing into one of my lower teeth. I looked in the mirror and thought it looked different, but then decided it was my imagination manifesting the situation because I was in pain. I drove over an hour to get to my regular dentist only to hear the cap had slipped down and the entire thing had shifted. I almost burst in tears! He filed it down so I wouldn't be in pain and told me it was time to take the entire tooth out!!!

The thing is, this is a front tooth!!!!! The next day, I drove over an hour again to see my periodontist and he agreed that the time has come and we need to get this sucker out. He is worried it is compromising my other teeth and bone around it. I almost threw up in his office, and I started to cry. He will need to extract the tooth, do a bone graft and put in a temporary. After 4 months of healing, he will determine if an implant will work. I am petrified, terrified, horrified and every other "__fied" word you can think of. He empathized with me as he reminded me he has always treated me like his own daughter. He reassured me it will be OK.

I am depressed, anxious and scared about the entire process. I know it is not life threatening, but this is the front of my face and I am scared. Logically I know it has to be done, but my emotional response is one of fear. Have any of you experienced something similar????