It's not that uncommon. Root canals are unaffordable.

The ER will at least give you antibiotics for an abcess. But few can afford to actually deal with it.

They’re certainly not cheap not sure I’d call them unaffordable though. I’ve had 2 root canals in the last few years and they were probably $200-400 a pop with insurance. I’ve also had an extraction, bone graft, and implant and that was probably a few grand.

My last root canal was $1500 and insurance paid 50% of that. I don't even live in an expensive region of the US.