there is no way to heal an abcessed tooth. once it is abcessed, it needs to be pulled. if someone tells you they healed an abcessed tooth, then it was not abcessed, the nerve was only irritated. there is a big difference. sometimes a tooth is abcessed and you have no pain, and sometimes a nerve is irritated and you have a ton of pain. so, you cannot go by the amount of pain. but, if an abcess no matter how big or small shows on the x-ray, there is no way it will reverse. they can calm down, especially with anti-biotics (which we do not recommend), then flair back up. but, they will always get worse and need extracted.