Especially since it's been going on for 4 years you should definitely do whatever you can to get it looked at asap. If you can't afford a dentist you can look for dental education programs near you that offer free or cheap services (since students will be working on you). I think there are some in St Pete or Clearwater, but if nothing else USF should def have one.

Sorry comrade, hope you can get some relief

Have you called the community dental clinic? They're a nonprofit that says they do free dental care for uninsured people in your county. https://communitydtlclinic.org/

Or if you can get together $80 you can get seen at a county clinic, but that might just be for an exam and not treatment. https://pinellas.floridahealth.gov/programs-and-services/clinical-and-nutrition-services/dental/index.html

My first thought was to look into what it would take to get you on Medicaid (a process I've done dozens of times in my state), but apparently Florida only does it for parents of children and blind people? Awful.

Not sure if you've looked at this already, Pinellas County Dept of Health has a dental clinic that offers low-cost to free services for the uninsured: https://pinellas.floridahealth.gov/programs-and-services/clinical-and-nutrition-services/dental/index.html. I would reach out to them ASAP. An abscess is no joke and absolutely an emergency- extractions performed in ERs are actually covered by health insurance, so if you've got Medicaid or something similar, they should eventually help pick up the bill if it comes to that.

Uh you need to go to a dentist. Max out a credit card if you need to, fucking rob a bank. A decaying tooth can literally kill you

If you live near a college that has a dental program, you might be able to have it looked at by students, supervised by an instructor. That usually doesn't cost much, since, you're really doing them a service by being there.

In my cursed experience, this pain typically subsides after a few days - however you want to look out for any signs of infection. Typically what happens is a feedback loop between irritation causing swelling causing teeth to move around causing more irritation causing more swelling. Even though over-the-counter pain meds do very little for the pain, you should take ibuprofen to help reduce the swelling (I AM NOT A DOCTOR).

If it is infected, you will need a prescription for antibiotics. Infections can potentially be very dangerous. Without solving the root cause, infection can return down the road, requiring more exotic antibiotics to treat.

I just hat a bunch of teeth yanked after being in the same situation for many years. Death to America.

Definitely get it looked at by a dentist when you can. Tooth extractions aren't as expensive as a lot of dental procedures.

Until you can get to a dentist, spend about 2-3 minutes soaking that part of your mouth in a warm water and salt mix, 2-3 times a day. This will help prevent infections and can cure a mild one.

If you don't have any money, this probably won't help, but I've gotten dental discount plans before to save myself a couple hundred dollars on getting 2 teeth pulled.

https://www.dentalplans.com/dental-savings-plans/

I seem to remember fish antibiotics being a solution for some people. I've also been lucky enough that I've gone to a minuteclinic place and met a nurse or doc that was nice enough to give me a rx for antibiotics without charging me for the appointment. Amazon has been doing some telehealth type stuff too. IDK if they'd give you just the rx for elsewhere, but Publix used to have a list of free meds you could get with RX, now they offer like a discount on some of them.

I don't have a great answer unfortunately. Dental pain can be considered an emergency often. All I can say is to call around to dentists. See how much it'll be to pull the tooth (assuming it's only one) and ask about payment plans. You can also see about ACA plans, but finding a dentist that will take it will be difficult.

Have you looked into local dental schools? I don't know how it is around you but where I am you can get work done for discounted prices since you'll have students working on you.

Hopefully it's just a non-critical tooth that needs an extraction.

I think my tooth extraction was like $35 - obviously they'll take on some other fees but the process itself could be quickly fundraised.

The main problem is you might get mis-diagnosed a few times - especially if the professionals are trying to "save the tooth". I was about to get a full root canal when the endodontist finally discovered that the tooth was cracked all the way through the roots and required extraction. Dude, saved me a ton of time and money and that was after like 3 mis-diagnoses.

Sorry you are going through this, tooth pain is miserable.

bumping amber whataboutism for answers

Unfortunately I have nothing to offer other than my condolences comrade.

Best of luck