scarpia
Jun 14, 2010, 04:23 PM
I'm sorry that his is very long. The summary is that a dentist gave me porcelain veneers with acrylic cement even though he knew I was allergic to acrylic. I was in considerable pain but he did not agree to remove the acrylic until I filed a complaint. He removed the acrylic but did very poor work that left me in pain. I complained to the board of dental examiners but they said he has done nothing wrong. I have spent over $20,000 in the past 5 years and I am still in pain. I have had 3 dentists charge me for poor work and other dentists I go to tell me that it is impossible to be allergic to dental materials. I don't know what to do or how I can ever find a trustworthy dentist now. Here is a more detailed explanation:
In 2005 I paid a dentist over $10k for porcelain veneers on my top and bottom teeth. I let the dentist know I was allergic to acrylic. He did not tell me that there was acrylic in the cement for the veneers even after I complained about an odd cottony sensation in my mouth after they were placed. He told me that it was likely a side effect from all the anesthetic he gave me and that it would go away. It didn't. A year later my mouth and tongue were burning up. I went back to him and he told me that it couldn't be due to the veneers. I asked him if there was acrylic in the cement. He admitted that there was but still denied that had anything to do with my burning mouth and tongue. I went to an ENT and allergist. They didn't help much. The ENT would only say that I had glossitis and refused to speculate on the cause. The allergist said it was possible that the acrylic cement was causing the problem but there was no way to prove it. I went back to the dentist but he told me that the allergist agreed with him and that the veneer cement could not possibly be the cause of the problem. I went to several other dentists but they denied that it could be the acrylic cement. One even told me that I must have been subconsciously rubbing my tongue against my teeth and that was the cause of the problem.
I finally found one dentist who said it could be the cement. He agreed to take the veneers off and give me crowns with a non acrylic cement. He lied. He charged me $3,000 and only took the veneers off and put on temporary acrylic based veneers that were just as painful to me. He then claimed that it was not the acrylic but the phenol dyes in the acrylic that was the problem.
I was able to find out who made the veneer cement and wrote to them. They told me that there were rare cases of people having allergic reactions to the cement. After nearly a year of research while I was in pain I filed a complaint with the state dental board. This is not the board of dental examiners but a bord of dentists who mediate complaints. After that the dentist finally agreed to take the veneers out and put in porcelain crowns with a non acrylic cement free of charge. He lied. He put it a good set of crowns on my bottom teeth, but then he said he had to charge me for the top crowns. I complained to the dental board but they told me to give the dentist a break because his house had burned down. So I paid him almost $4000 for crowns and he screwed them up. They were unglazed and tasted like chalk. Months later he agreed to take them out and he charged me thousands more for another set. These might have been all right but he shaved away at the back of them which created a rough unglazed surface that irritated my tongue. A month later he finally polished them but even that was not good enough to stop them from irritating my tongue. He then agreed to put another set in. He chaired me thousands of dollars more for a set of horrible metal crowns that had rough chalky porcelain at the tips.
I went to other dentists but they said they could not put anything else in because my bite had been altered when the back of the crowns got shaved. I finally found one who said he would do it after I showed him that I could move my bite back to where it was before. I specified that I needed the crowns to match the ones on the bottom because I was sensitive to materials. He agreed to give me the same materials - ivolclar porcelain. He even showed me a material safety sheet for ivoclar porcelain. He lied. He charged me $5,000. They tasted like chalk. I wrote to Ivoclar and the rep there called the dentist. The dentist admitted to him that it was not Ivoclar porcelain but a material called zircon.
I called all of the local dental malpractice lawyers but they told me that lawsuits against dentists don't pay well and cost too much to file. One told me that if I paid the $50,000 cost of filing a suit he would do it for me. But he told me that juries in my state don't award punative damages and I was not likely to get back more than the amount I paid the dentist. So I would be paying $50,000 to get back $25,000. And there was no promise that I would even win.
I wrote back to the dental board. I wanted my money back from the original dentist so I could afford to have an honest component dentist put in good ivoclar crowns. They didn't even answer me. I wrote to every member of the board but they still refused to answer me. I finally got the president of the board on the phone. He told me that they were busy and that I might want to file a complaint with the board of dental examiners and secretary of state's office. I wrote a complaint to them and the consumer protection division of the attorney general's office. The attorney general's office did not answer me. The secretary of state's office told me they would conduct and investigation. They kept saying that for 18 months. Finally a couple of days ago they wrote back to me and said that the board of dental examiners had found no unprofessional conduct.
Now I have no idea what to do. I am still in considerable discomfort for bad crowns. But many dentists have lied to me and charged me thousands of dollars for bad work. Since there is no penalty for dentists who do poor work there is no way I can assure that any dentist will do a half decent job. Some people are telling me I should just have the teeth removed, but I don't think I should have to get my teeth pulled because there are no honest dentists. How can I find an honest dentist? Is there any other way to bring this bad dentist to justice? Will I have to learn to do my own dental work? Can someone do that?
In 2005 I paid a dentist over $10k for porcelain veneers on my top and bottom teeth. I let the dentist know I was allergic to acrylic. He did not tell me that there was acrylic in the cement for the veneers even after I complained about an odd cottony sensation in my mouth after they were placed. He told me that it was likely a side effect from all the anesthetic he gave me and that it would go away. It didn't. A year later my mouth and tongue were burning up. I went back to him and he told me that it couldn't be due to the veneers. I asked him if there was acrylic in the cement. He admitted that there was but still denied that had anything to do with my burning mouth and tongue. I went to an ENT and allergist. They didn't help much. The ENT would only say that I had glossitis and refused to speculate on the cause. The allergist said it was possible that the acrylic cement was causing the problem but there was no way to prove it. I went back to the dentist but he told me that the allergist agreed with him and that the veneer cement could not possibly be the cause of the problem. I went to several other dentists but they denied that it could be the acrylic cement. One even told me that I must have been subconsciously rubbing my tongue against my teeth and that was the cause of the problem.
I finally found one dentist who said it could be the cement. He agreed to take the veneers off and give me crowns with a non acrylic cement. He lied. He charged me $3,000 and only took the veneers off and put on temporary acrylic based veneers that were just as painful to me. He then claimed that it was not the acrylic but the phenol dyes in the acrylic that was the problem.
I was able to find out who made the veneer cement and wrote to them. They told me that there were rare cases of people having allergic reactions to the cement. After nearly a year of research while I was in pain I filed a complaint with the state dental board. This is not the board of dental examiners but a bord of dentists who mediate complaints. After that the dentist finally agreed to take the veneers out and put in porcelain crowns with a non acrylic cement free of charge. He lied. He put it a good set of crowns on my bottom teeth, but then he said he had to charge me for the top crowns. I complained to the dental board but they told me to give the dentist a break because his house had burned down. So I paid him almost $4000 for crowns and he screwed them up. They were unglazed and tasted like chalk. Months later he agreed to take them out and he charged me thousands more for another set. These might have been all right but he shaved away at the back of them which created a rough unglazed surface that irritated my tongue. A month later he finally polished them but even that was not good enough to stop them from irritating my tongue. He then agreed to put another set in. He chaired me thousands of dollars more for a set of horrible metal crowns that had rough chalky porcelain at the tips.
I went to other dentists but they said they could not put anything else in because my bite had been altered when the back of the crowns got shaved. I finally found one who said he would do it after I showed him that I could move my bite back to where it was before. I specified that I needed the crowns to match the ones on the bottom because I was sensitive to materials. He agreed to give me the same materials - ivolclar porcelain. He even showed me a material safety sheet for ivoclar porcelain. He lied. He charged me $5,000. They tasted like chalk. I wrote to Ivoclar and the rep there called the dentist. The dentist admitted to him that it was not Ivoclar porcelain but a material called zircon.
I called all of the local dental malpractice lawyers but they told me that lawsuits against dentists don't pay well and cost too much to file. One told me that if I paid the $50,000 cost of filing a suit he would do it for me. But he told me that juries in my state don't award punative damages and I was not likely to get back more than the amount I paid the dentist. So I would be paying $50,000 to get back $25,000. And there was no promise that I would even win.
I wrote back to the dental board. I wanted my money back from the original dentist so I could afford to have an honest component dentist put in good ivoclar crowns. They didn't even answer me. I wrote to every member of the board but they still refused to answer me. I finally got the president of the board on the phone. He told me that they were busy and that I might want to file a complaint with the board of dental examiners and secretary of state's office. I wrote a complaint to them and the consumer protection division of the attorney general's office. The attorney general's office did not answer me. The secretary of state's office told me they would conduct and investigation. They kept saying that for 18 months. Finally a couple of days ago they wrote back to me and said that the board of dental examiners had found no unprofessional conduct.
Now I have no idea what to do. I am still in considerable discomfort for bad crowns. But many dentists have lied to me and charged me thousands of dollars for bad work. Since there is no penalty for dentists who do poor work there is no way I can assure that any dentist will do a half decent job. Some people are telling me I should just have the teeth removed, but I don't think I should have to get my teeth pulled because there are no honest dentists. How can I find an honest dentist? Is there any other way to bring this bad dentist to justice? Will I have to learn to do my own dental work? Can someone do that?