Hello,

i got very sick several years ago after having immunizations done in boot camp and virtually all of my teeth went bad in a 3 month period. I brush 3 times daily and use listerine, but have very serious plaque build-up around the tops of my teeth. The lower parts of my teeth are fine, but they are all very deeply pitted right around the gum-line. My primary problem is with one tooth, however(although I would like to solve some of the other problems eventually).

The tooth was broken about 10 years ago and I got a cap put on it; repeat this about 5 times over then next 3 years(caps don't last me more than about a month normally before they break, don't really understand why). Anyway, the tooth got impacted in 1999 and I had a root canal done on it, but the cap they put over the tooth shattered into little chunks a few weeks later and left a hole in the back of my tooth. The impaction came back a few weeks later and I have lived with it ever since, because I simply can't afford the dental bills(i already have thousands in this stupid tooth). Anyway, the tooth bothers me a lot and the gum above it has been swollen for about 4 and a half years now with infection, but what worries me is that it has now turned a deep grey color(my gum--the tooth has been deep black since 99). Also, the top of the cap is very sharp and causes my gum to bleed where it touches it.

Now, I hear a lot about receding gums, but mine do the opposite, they grow down my teeth and I have to push them back up or they get swollen and hurt a lot.

Is there any way that I can pull this tooth out myself(it is one of the two in the very front of the top)? And what does the dark grey color of my gum mean? Thanks.