I had a big problem with my dentist

Joined
Mar 3, 2017
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Late January of this year (last month), I was informed by the dentist that I had a cavity. I went two weeks later (after my cleaning) to have the filling fixed filling was near my gum-line. The dentist never x-rayed the cavity. After the novicane wore off, the filling was in pain. I figured, well, the cavity has to "set" or heal, so I figured in time it would settle down. 10 days later, it got worse. I called the dentist and over the phone, the dental assistant said, the never is dying, you are going to need a root -canal. I was pretty upset over this, and went to an endodontist to confirm this. He did a full mouth xray with some huge machine I stood in, and some standard xrays. Yep, you need a root canal said the endodontist. The endodontist gave me an appointment for a root canal and 1500 mg/day for 7 days of antibiotics and Vicaden pain killers. I also made a 1300.00 appontment for my root canal to be done later this month, (March).

I called the dentist again and said, "listen, when you did my cavity, you said all I had was a cavity, you said nothing of any possibility of a root canal, furthermore, why didn't you xray the tooth?" I explained how mad I was over this situation, so he told me to come in. When I came in, I sat in the chair beside the dentist chair and told him, I feel you are responsible for this situation and I feel because you didn't tell me anything other than, "You have a cavity", didn't do any communicating, I feel you should absorb the cost. The dentist went off on me like a maniac, saying "I don't want you in my office anymore, I am discharging you as a patient"
I said, Listen, I am the one who has been in dreadful pain for the past three weeks, I am the one who has to deal with the expense, I am the one who was told NOTHING after your work. His defense for not doing the xray was first, "your insurance doesn't cover it, then when I said, I would have PAID for it, he replied, I didn't feel an xray was in order or necessary."

When I glanced at the xray from the Endodonist, it looked as if he drilled right to the pulp area. I personally feel he acted negligently. Any comments? I feel I should be able to sue him. Around 20 year ago, when I needed a root canal on another tooth, the dentist I used at that time, was talking about it in full detail before he even worked on the tooth in question. Any input would be helpful here.
 
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Joined
Jan 5, 2017
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Sorry about your pain and trouble. If you don't have dentist insurance like me it puts you in a bind. You probably need to ask around about dentist in your area and go get a second opinion. Sounds like to me he knows he screwed up and want to get rid of you. Hope you get everything fixed.
 

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Joined
Jun 27, 2016
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I'm sorry I don't know enough in that area to comment on that. I do understand that dentists can visually see as they drill when they had hit dentin, and when they see/hit pulp. I'm curious why a topical antibiotic would not be applied if they had hit pulp. An interesting side note is that recently researchers at the King's College London had found that the Alzheimer's drug Tideglusib causes dentin to be recreated in bulk (previously only a thin layer of dentin would be recreated naturally). It doesn't restore enamel, but it is a super neat discovery, and I hope it reaches dental practices everywhere soon. Read a news article about it. An excerpt:
"Professor Paul Sharpe, lead author of the study, of the Dental Institute, from King’s College London, said: 'The simplicity of our approach makes it ideal as a clinical dental product for the natural treatment of large cavities, by providing both pulp protection and restoring dentine.' "​

Makes me think about policemen & accountability regarding body-cams, but along the lines of a mix between google-glasses and dental loupes. That way their high-dollar work is able to be appraised by other experts & the patient. Nice business idea if you can lobby your government to make products like that mandatory while you sell those products to dental practitioners at the same time.

John Roberts I remember you had problems like I do with dry mouth (in my case caused by dental work, medication, & CT scan radiation). I did find a new way to increase salivation- read the examine.com article on trimethylglycine as it pertains to treating 'dry mouth' and 'salivation'. trimethylglycine powder is cheap and it is a natural part of the body's one-carbon metabolism. I'm going to find a reliable source and see if it works for me.
 

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