I was out with my wife and another couple. We started to eat the soft bread they bring out while you wait for your meal. My first bite caused extreme pain. I quickly spit the bread out and saw a small stone type object. My wife and the other couple saw the object as well as the waiter. I did not talk with the manager, but the waiter took the bread away along with the "stone". For some reason I was embarrassed. I was in great pain the rest of the night. I figured the pain would go away, but after two weeks, it did not. I was finally able to see a dentist. The dentist took an x-ray of the tooth proviing it was strong and healthy. She did tell me the back molar was broken. I was surprised. Now I have a $1400 bill and very upset that I have to pay for this. I feel the restaurant should pay for this at the very least.

Have you appraised the establishment of this occurrence ?

Not yet, again felt embarrassed at first, but now upset. This was a soft out of the oven bread. I plan on calling today for manager's name. I will write them a letter explaining what happened. Unless you or others suggest something else.

That's exactly what I was going to suggest.
As you have no physical evidence of this foreign body, your cause of action would soon degenerate into "he said she said" and hearsay.

You can certainly file a small claims for about $50 depending on your state, and if you win, you are awarded that fee too (then you have to hope they pay). You may have a tough time in front of the judge because of the time that has lapsed, and you would need the testimony of the waiter. One problem is that you don't know if there was indeed a stone in the bread, or if that was a piece of tooth. Age is certainly a factor. I am in my 60s and am starting to lose small chunks of teeth whether I bite on something hard or soft - they are just breaking.

Your first step is to contact the restaurant and file a claim. They may just turn this over to their insurance carrier who may do anything from deny the claim to pay your bill. If the claim is denied or they do not offer enough to satisfy you, then you next have to go to small claims court and file suit.

The length of time and your lack of immediate action plus the loss of the evidence will make this much harder on you.

Why should you be embarrassed when you were injured through no fault of your own?

It is very hard at this point, my opinion is that the waiter will not remember and the establishment will deny.

I have no idea why you were embarrassed? If you had fallen and broken a leg, would you have crawled out so no one knew ?

When it happened, you take photo of object with cell phone, you report it to the manager, and file a report. All you can do is try now, I would say odds are against you

Wish I could answer why I felt embarrassed... I had no idea at the time the extent of the injury. I have always been of the mind not to complain and work it out. But, yes this was through no fault of my own and I will push forward and request reimbursement. Thank you all.

Unfortunately, from a legal standpoint, you are going to climb a mountain. You said that you didn't see a dentist for approximately 2 weeks post injury. You would have to prove that there was no injury prior to and after the time that you went to the dentist.

As a legal researcher (in my past life) you would have to prove to me that this occurred when and where you said it did. Since you did not save the "stone type object," you did not report it to management at the time of occurrence, nor did you photograph said object as well as the tooth, your burden of proof is really impossible to prove.

You will be lucky to find a dentist who can look at the tooth and can determine the time frame of the wearing down of the sharp edges.

Had you come to me (in my past life as a researcher in a law firm) I would have to turn this suit down as unrecoverable due to the lack of reporting to management as well as the delayed time to get treatment.

If I understand what OP is saying, he/she didn't tell anyone in charge of the restaurant at the time of the injury. If this is the case, the chances of being reimbursed or recoving a judgment in court are virtually nil. Any insurance adjuster, restaurant manager, defendant's attorney, or judge would reasonably conclude that this supposed embarrassment is a story made up to hide the fact that the tooth was not damaged in the restaurant at all.