Two years ago my dentist worked with my front incisors which had been broken in a freak pogo-stick accident when I was a child. Way back then, my childhood dentist told me one day the teeth might die and need root canals. Fifteen years later, I developed a blister over one of the incisors and went to a new dentist.

She said that I needed a root canal on that tooth. From the x-ray she said the other tooth looked okay for now, but would probably require root canal treatment in the future. She scheduled me for a root canal for the infected tooth and told me I would need crowns for both front teeth.

After forking over more than $2000 from my own pocket after insurance (she's an expensive cosmetic dentist...I didn't realize this when I chose her from my insurance list, she's just the closest dentist to my house), I had my gorgeous new crowns.

Two years later I develop a blister above the OTHER incisor. I went in, expecting a normal root canal. "We have to go down through the porcelain crown to do this root canal, Ben, and there's a good chance that it will shatter. Which means you'd need to replace BOTH crowns if that happens. Oh, and by the way, it's standard in the dental insurance industry that insurance will not cover ANY work on a crown that is less than 5 years old. So you'll be paying for the new crowns out of your own pocket."

My question is...why didn't she recommend a root canal on BOTH teeth before she crowned them. Even if the other tooth wasn't in questionable health (it was, but let's pretend it wasn't), isn't it pretty much standard practice to do a root canal on a tooth before it's crowned?

I'm feeling like this is a scam she does to make extra cash. Crown a questionable tooth without a root canal because you KNOW the client will have to pay for new crowns in another year or two when they need finally do a root canal...

Anyone have any thoughts?

Ben in Dallas

fredg

Hi,
Being a person who is 64 yrs old, now wearing dentures, I have in my lifetime, had every tooth in my mouth either filled, drilled, crowned, or extracted!
Been there...done that! I had gum disease at one point, didn't even know it, and the dentist I was going to, never mentioned it!
YES, it's normal to have a root canal before placing a crown on a tooth. I don't know why your dentist chose to do it that way. I am not a Dentist, nor a Doctor, nor a Professional in this area; just a man who has been through nearly all of it.
I would definitely go to another Dentist, and get another opinion. I won't guess at the reasons for the other Dentist, but another opinion will help you in deciding what to do. I am thoroughly familar with Insurance not paying for part, all, or whatever!
I do wish you the best, and good luck.
PS; I would recommend seeing a Family Dentist. He then can give you his/her opinion, what to do, and will refer you if needed; probably to a reputable dentist. Family Dentists are more likely to NOT be doing things not needed! At least, that's just my own personal observations over the years.

Starman

I would recommend that you nonchalantly go to your dentist, request the medical records on the pretext of taking them to another dentist in another state--otherwise she might not release them suspecting that you are going to a lawyer-then go to a lawyer who deals in malpractice. Some compensation is in order here.

BTW
Don't go to her again. Some dentists can't be trusted with a drill. I had one repeatedly saying he couldn't see while attempting to drill a root canal on my first upper left bicuspid. He only stopped drilling after the tooth was ruined and needed extraction. After which he loudly said to the secretary! "Send in that other patient who came in on time."

In other words my being a little late justified his blowing off steam by ruining me tooth.

See what I mean?

wtfomfg

No. It's obvious this moron's one of those people who would sue McDonald's for having their coffee too hot and wants to make a buck. Suing is not an option because no malpractice was committed, just an unfortunate situation. This is a dentist who was given a situation and made a judgment call, and turned out to be wrong. Would you like it if someone sued you for making a judgement call that was probably a 50/50 shot? No, you wouldn't. He needs to shut up and get a life.

Now, let's talk some sense. As a dentist, I can tell you that sometimes crowned teeth end up needing root canals after the fact. It sucks, but that's dentistry. It happens to every single dentist out there. If, at the time of x-ray, there was no infection, a dentist can't possibly know that a tooth is abscessed or will abscess at some point. We can't predict the future. Your dentist is doing a good thing by WARNING you that the crown may shatter. It's VERY unlikely that it will happen (I have seen many a root canal through a crown and none have shattered), but think about this: What if they DIDN'T warn you, and it happened? You'd be pissed. I would be too if I were a patient. The only bad thing I see is that your dentist is telling you to redo both crowns. Now that's stupid. You should only need to redo the one if it shatters. That seems very shady. The only way both would need to be re-done is if the color can't be matched and if that same dentist did the crown, the color would be in their records. I'd seek a referral to a root canal specialist (endodontist) who can more likely do the root canal without shattering the crown. Root canal access holes on the crown can usually be filled afterwards without a problem and the crown stays intact for years. Hope this helps! Good luck!

Now on to suing Starman for every wrong prediction he's ever made....
oh and meteorologists who get weather predictions wrong.. I'll sue them too.

Starman

I have never sued anyone in my whole life. So much for your character evaluation.
What predictions? The person described a situation and I gave my opinion. Nothing more. No attack on your profession was intended. In fact, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your profession. It provides a service which we can't do without. So it's definitely not the profession that caused problems. It's certain individuals within the profession that cause it. And please don't tell me that Dentists are an exception when it comers to attracting weirdoes. All professions have them and saying that dentistry doesn't is unrealistic--especially considering all the horrible experiences which the patients recount on this forum and on others.

Now, as to the lawsuit--probably not a good idea since the medical profession members have a certain silent understood agreement of sorts to cover one another's tracks.


BTW
Ever see the film "Little Shop of Horror's"?