More dental shenanigans (but it's getting better!)

[Maria]

So, as some recall, I had a bad dentist... story's over here: http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ad.php?t=85715

And he wasn't the first sucky one I'd run into, either, so... yeah, kind of phobic. I really wasn't ever going to see a dentist again, but one of my teeth started to hurt, and I have to fly next week for school. I feared that it would break while I'm out, which is not the end of the world, but it's not something you want to have happen when you're in the front seat. So I sucked it up (and by that, I mean that I whined and cried on my teddy bear for an entire afternoon) and scheduled an appointment with an office that my hairdresser said was really nice, and respectful of patient preferences. And they were. Nobody yelled, and we had a nice chat about the options for dealing with my problem.

But here's the part. When they evaluated my painful tooth... they very quickly found the problem. See, I had a cavity filled as a teen, and that filling broke about 10 years ago, and it was replaced with a gold inlay. Perfectly fine. But the evil dentist, about 2 years ago, was filling a small cavity in the tooth ahead of that one, and found that the decay had kind of spread into the inlay-tooth also. And so he just filled it, right up against the inlay. With a type of filling that does not bond with gold, so it just created a nice crack between the two materials. It should have gotten a crown at the time, instead of being filled. And he DIDN'T ASK OR TELL ME HE WAS DOING THAT AT ALL!

I'm relieved that it didn't do me any lasting damage, really, and it's only a little extra cost to clean up the mess and do the crown now instead of two years ago. But he didn't ask, didn't tell, didn't put it on the itemized bill I received, just did it and billed insurance. Here I was, feeling overly paranoid that I was thinking "what if he just does whatever he wants while I can't see what he's doing" and then come to find out, he had already done EXACTLY that!! Just... argh! That guy's lucky my big sister prefers life on the outside of prison walls, because she's phenomenally overprotective of me, she's highly skilled in martial arts, and "pissed as hell" is a massive understatement right now. And also, thanks again, everyone who encouraged me about that fiasco, and in everything else I've ever posted. I didn't realize how important community can be until I found myself welcomed into one.

[csquared]

Glad to hear your new dentist caught the problem before it became too big.

Ask your new dentist if he will write up a report of what he found, and help you submit a complaint to your state's Board of Dentistry (I am assuming that you live in the US).

[bainsidhe]

Just...wow. Glad you found a better dentist.

[Seshat]

Agreed. Faulty dentist should be reported: not so much for your sake, as for the sake of his other patients.

Of course, having his malpractice insurance pay for your new dentist's work on the crown would be a nice plus.

[Maria]

I hadn't been planning to report the old dentist because it would have been very, very small benefit for a large amount of stress on me, but I'm starting to think I should, now that a couple other things have come to light. There's too much weirdness going on; it's time to hand the situation over and let the proper authorities figure it out.

On the good side, though, doing a whole crown with the current dentist was so much easier, and caused way, WAY less collateral damage, than doing a simple cleaning with the old guy! We're anticipating the need for half of one standard prescription painkiller at bedtime, and nothing more, whereas just a cleaning at the old office meant a five-day prescription of the stuff, along with physical therapy. So this is more incredible than I have words for!

[dragon_wings]

I have no words for how mad your previous dentist makes me. You don't fucking lie or mistreat a patient. I hope you do follow through and report him. And I'm so pleased the new guy is so much better. *many many hugs*

[Solumina]

I'm so glad you finally found a good, trustworthy dentist, it's amazing how many bad ones seem to be out there.

[Sapphire Silk]

Agreed. I've had a very hard time with dentists, and finding a good one. The one I have now is gold.

I had a tooth years ago that I thought was getting decayed due to a nasty stain on it. But it wasn't bothering me, so the dentist ignored it. The stain got worse, and it started to hurt. I still couldn't get the dentist to do anything about it.

Finally, I called my old dentist, who had retired but come partially out of retirement and taken back a few old patients (including my parents) and begged him to take me back, which he did. He took one look at that took and asked me how did my "new" dentist ever let it get so back. He was able to fill it, fortunately, which was a difficult job because it was on the side of the tooth, not the chewing surface. But his fill job lasted about 10 years, when the tooth finally broke and I had to get a crown.

When he passed away suddenly I cried not only because he was such a wonderful man, but because I knew I'd never find another dentist as good. My current one is almost as good, and it took me 30 years to find him.

[rose_metal_nz]

I have no words for how mad your previous dentist makes me. You don't fucking lie or mistreat a patient. I hope you do follow through and report him. And I'm so pleased the new guy is so much better. *many many hugs*

This is exactly, almost word for word, what I was thinking. Apart from the swear words, of course.
Just unbelievable. I would encourage you to write everything up & report that guy. Grr

[Maria]

Aw, thanks everyone. I've been hesitant to post again just yet because I'm kind of waiting for the next appt on May 11, where they're installing the crown and then I'll let them take a look at everything else, see what they suggest, etc. And I'm seriously terrified that it'll go downhill at that point. (Good thoughts, prayers, and stuff like that are all very appreciated!)

But just one more reason to make a report of the whole mess... is something I realized a couple days ago... cannot BELIEVE it took me this long to realize it either. That one tooth that Fired Guy was so insistent, it needed to look perfect even though it would cause permanent, career-ending damage to my body? Yeah, that's the one that's getting a crown to replace the big freaking crack he left in it with his shoddy fix. New Guy is fairly sure that what would have happened, if I hadn't known better, is that the sheer force would have broken the tooth in an irreparable manner, probably inside of 24 hours, and we'd have just been out the $2500 nonrefundable down payment, plus whatever it costs to do an implant, since none of that's covered by our insurance. And I would have sacrificed my college education, and my family's opportunity for financial security, for this. Good lord.

And Fired Guy's office is STILL trying to bill 2010's insurance company for my last visit in January, including billing for services that were not rendered because they use substances I'm allergic to. Weird since they were billing our current insurance before January's visit, no problem. I have a nagging feeling they mean to just hassle the wrong insurance until the bill is outdated enough that they can stick it on The Husband's credit report, or something. This is shaping up to be the most fun complaint I've ever written!