Dental crown prep/delivery from hell?

Joined
May 10, 2013
Messages
1
I shall preface this post with this: I'm ignorant to all things dental. I have been trying to educate myself to make better informed decisions on my teeth and overall wellness.

I'm a 30-year-old, living in Northern California (near Sacramento) and I have the basic dental insurance from Delta Dental provided my by employer. I brush 2x a day with a Braun electric toothbrush and I floss in the evening (I know...I should floss in the morning...but that's another debate which I have with my wife on a regular basis....).


This all started in February, 2012 (during the super bowl party). I was enjoying a beer and a hotdog, or whatever I was eating and my filling came out of my back, right side molar. Well, I thought I'd circumvent the major inconvienance by eating on my left side until I could make it to the dentist the following week. And then my tooth chipped. There was no pain, however. Just anxiety....of visiting the dentist.


So, I went to the dentist. Access Dental, that is...GAH! I have heard from everyone, "OMG! Don't go there!" However, I have never heard the reasons why, other than they butcher your teeth supposively? Well, it was too late...I had already started the process and I hate change. My only flaw....lol


They do a basic cleaning, x-rays, and stated I need a crown--but no root canal. They do the crown prep and fit me with a temporary crown. I go in for the delivery. The dentist doesn't like the crowns fit. Re-do crown prep. I go in for delivery. New dentist. Doesn't like the crown fit. Re-do crown prep. I go in for delivery. New Dentist. Doesn't like the crown fit. I'm not kidding...

So lets recap this.

I have had 3 different dentist. I believe I have 4 different crown preps and 3 delivery attempts. Over the course of 14 months, which is partially my fault due to my hectic work and out of town training schedules.

They are not charging me anything extra for all these preps/deliveries. And I'm thankful they are not just throwing the crown on and calling it good when there's space on the fitting that would allow bacteria in and start decaying my tooth.

I'm wondering, is this normal? Or perhaps, in some cases, have dentist had a problem with a particular patient's crown delivery due to the tooths positioning or what not? I'm going in for my 4th delivery attempt and I'm wondering if I should think about switching dentist...Is this a failure on their part? The labs fault? A bit of both? Would a qualified, well-experienced dentist have these types of issue?

My problem is, I have no way of measuring a dentists' worth other than minimal google ratings or word of mouth. But ones experience can change from patient to patient.

I'm not bashing Access Dental. I think they are beyond friendly; however, I'm questiong their always-changing dentists' quality of work.

Any recommendations? Please, please, please elaborate!
 
Joined
Jun 26, 2013
Messages
4
Access is state or governement funded health care. Typically it is going to be fast paced, high volume lower quality care. The reality is in life you usually get what you pay for.

The crown is made at a lab, usually outside of the office. The quality/fit of the crown is based on several factors, the original impression quality, the crown material, the skill of the lab technician. Any one of those factors need to be checked and or corrected to get a properly fitting crown. Based on errors in anyone of those steps leads to more adjustments at the seating of the crown.

You can request take a new impression and start from scratch.
Good luck!
 

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Joined
Jul 24, 2013
Messages
1
I'm just a consumer, but one who had a whole-mouth restoration with a most remarkably skilled dentist, and if I were you I would seriously start over with a good dentist if that's an option.

I had so much bad dental work in my life before finding my dentist, and can tell you the difference is night/day. It's worth it to find someone excellent who you can establish a relationship with.

Ack - just saw you posted this a while ago and likely have your crown and have moved on and won't ever read this :)
 

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