Patient: I have a tooth decay, more than half of my teeth are missing, because I am afraid of going to the dentist, so I have been delaying, a few days ago I had a toothache, but after I took the medicine, it basically does not hurt anymore, but there is a small lump on the gum of the affected tooth, it does not hurt, it is red and swollen, and the opening of my mouth is a little bit limited, I heard my friend say that I need to do root canal treatment, in my case I also need porcelain teeth or braces or something, I want to consult how many times I need to do it, does it hurt, what is the effect, how much it costs? I’d like to ask how many times I have to do it, whether it hurts, how effective it is and how much it costs. I heard a friend say to do root canal treatment, my situation also porcelain teeth or braces or something, I want to consult the next several times to do, pain or not, how effective, the cost of about how much, thank you Dr. Jiang. The situation you describe can be presumed to be an apical abscess, and root canal treatment is recommended. Root canal treatment is generally divided into three steps, the first is the root canal preparation, that is, the complete removal of decaying pulp tissue; the second step is root canal disinfection, that is, the use of disinfectant drugs to kill the bacteria remaining in the root canal; finally, root canal filling and cavity repair, that is, the root canal is tightly filled after filling the tooth, so root canal treatment requires three times of conventional treatment. The number of sessions may be increased in the case of persistent infection. For teeth with mild apical inflammation, 2 sessions are usually sufficient, and for teeth without infection but needing root canal treatment due to restoration or trauma, 1 session is usually sufficient. As for the cost of treatment, it is determined by the number of root canals in the tooth. Usually the molar is around $800-1000 and the anterior tooth is around 500. If the defect is large, braces are also needed to protect the tooth, and the cost is also usually about $1000. The treatment process can be done in a painless way, so don’t be nervous.