A little over three years ago when I was prgnant with my daughter one of my fillings came out and I never had it fixed, over the past two months it has got much worse and now I can't bear the pain, I made a trip to the dentist today to see if they could pull it and he said that the x ray showed a ball under the tooth and it would have to be surgicaly removed.
What does this ball mean, and why did it cause him to suggest surgery?
thanks

I don't know about the ball but I wanted to inform you its not as bad as it sounds you have to go to an oral surgeon. I went to one for my three wisdom teeth and never got knocked out cause I didn't want to pay two hundred for it. If your insurance doesn't cover it and you are in pain, you might want to give a school a try. I went to Oklahoma university and got them all pulled for 251 dollars, good luck and I hope you get the answer you were looking for. Bless you hope you get out of pain soon.

I have to admit, in all my years of dentistry I have never heard of anything being described as a "ball" under a tooth. Did he show you the x-ray to explain what he saw? Do you have an abscess? Gum boil? Where in your mouth is this tooth?
I just need a little more clarification before I can even understand why this treatment has been recommended.

he said it was a ball and gave me a copy of the x-ray to take when I get the extraction, he said the ball was the reason he coldnt take it out, it tooth 19botton left
thanks