[Sarah117]

I had a back molar tooth abscess. I was told I needed a root canal. I had to come back on another day as the Dentist who does the root canal is only there 1 day a week. I have the root canal, but the discomfort never went away completely. I went back and was told the tooth is dead and there is no way I can feel anything.

They made an appointment for me to see the guy the does the crown, again, he is not there every day. I did get to see him, explained that even after 2 weeks the tooth still bothers me. He said I needed crown lengthening down first. So once again now I have to see yet another one of their staff on the day he is there during the week. They did the crown lengthening, still more pain. And I was told to come back asap for the crown fitting.

I went back about 2 weeks later, I explained the tooth still bothers me, once again I was told the tooth can not still bother me as it's a dead tooth now. This dentist said I had bone loss and even after the crown, there would be a gap between the teeth and I would need to keep it clean to avoid infection. So I wanted to know WHY did I go through all this pain and the crown still will not fit correctly? I was not told I had too much bone loss. I asked about just pulling the tooth as I feared after the expense of a crown and if I could not chew on that tooth without some jaw discomfort it would be pulled anyway.

I held off paying any of my bill until I knew what to do about this tooth. 9 months later and the tooth still bothered me. So I opted to have it pulled. I was charged for the extraction and a $60 consult. I had no consult. I made the appointment for the extraction and nothing was explained to me. The oral surgeon's nurse looked at my x-ray and said she don't understand why there is so much bone loss in only 30 days between Xray's.

I said they did a crown lengthening and she never said another word, which makes me feel they removed too much of the bone or gum. I am still in pain from this extraction and its been 5 days. Since this office has doctors that are only there one day a week, I have to now wait till next week to see why this still hurts so much.

He did use a drill at one point. Is this normal in an extraction? My face still has some swelling but nothing like the day after. My jaw hurts and inside my mouth where I guess he put the injections.

I don't know if they will continue to bill me for the other precedures, I feel they did not do it correctly. Or if they did, I should have been told I would need the crown lengthening. Now the back tooth that was in front of the molar sits so high and the gum and bone is low behind it. I worry this tooth will not have support and break off in time.

My questions are:
1. was all this work really needed?
2. I asked if the tooth was impacted, if that was why it still bothered me after a root canal and I was told no, it just a normal extraction. Then if using a drill during an extraction normal?

I am worried to have anymore work done at this office. I do not have too many options as I am on disability and I have to go where they tell me.

Lastly, I was told that I had to get a crown within 2 weeks of the root canal, I asked about a temp crown and was told I can't have that because a root canal can fail if there is not a permanent crown put on ASAP. I had a root canal done 20 years ago, I wore the temp for over a year until I could afford the permanent crown. Since that was 20 years ago,is this also true now. A person needs to have the root canal and crown down as soon as possible?

[flossie]

Sarah,
Firstly, I would recommend you find another office where there aren't so many dentists coming and going all week.
Secondly, ask the office for copies of the x-rays they took prior to the root canal and any others taken during the time since the root canal was done. Make sure you have all your bills and receipts in order and document everything that was said and done at each appointment.
Next, make copies of everything and contact your local dental licencing body and file a claim. What you have been through sounds like incompetence to me (and possibly some fraud). Don't go to a lawyer and pay $$ until you have been through your local dental licencing authority, you should be able to have this solved and receive any monies paid without needing a lawyer.
Good luck.

[aries81]

Don't bother with the local licensing authority. I did that. They dragged the complaint out for 2 whole years and then just dismissed it. Give them bad reviews on ratemd and doctorscorcard. Lawsuits are costly. Lawyers don't like to take on dental malpractice unless you have nerve damage. Otherwise it won't pay enough. You might try small claims court.