Major dental work for Jen

I have a rough history with dental work and maintenance. When I was very young, I had an extremely traumatizing experience with a children's dentist, where I was held down against my will because I was frightened and crying. This began a major, lifelong phobia of dentists, which has made me avoidant to seek care when I need it. 

Between this, and genetically poor teeth, I have not had good luck with dental care. Over the years, between being both afraid and unable to afford everything necessary to stop the damage once and for all, I keep ending up where I started.  I've ignored and put off minor dental issues, until they've snowballed into massive issues. 

I've all but 7 of my teeth root canaled and crowned, had several of those crowns fail. A few years ago I had all of my upper teeth removed, and I now have a permanently screwed in dental prosthesis, which has honestly been a life saver. I no longer have problems with the upper side, and I don't have to deal with pain every day. It gave me a fantastic smile, which you can see in the cover photo. And it helped restore my confidence. 

The bottom side is another story. I had several root canals and crowns done about 4 years ago. 2 years ago, one of them came off, and despite the dentist who did the work guaranteeing it, the clinic refused to honor this when I went in to have it repaired. So I did what I customarily do, and I ignored it, since it didn't hurt. Over time, the roots have crumbled around the root canals posts, causing inflammation and pain. I compensated by just chewing on the other side of my mouth, and due to uneven chewing, I've recently caused a crown on the other side to become loose. The missing crown has become infected, and is now extremely painful. 

It is really hard for me to talk about this, and even harder to ask for help. But I know it will not get better if I don't get this treated right away.  I am hoping that the loose crown can be fixed easily, but it's up in the air.  The missing crown will probably require an implant+crown. I have at least 2 small cavities that need fixing, and they may no longer be small, since I put off some work because of covid. I do have dental insurance, but it won't come close to covering everything. 

I am setting the amount at $3500.  It is very likely that I will have to increase it, especially if I need to get implants, but i am hoping this will be enough. This is probably the most open I've been about this in years.  If you can help in any way, I would be grateful.