I had a tooth that stuck out a bit. I never had braces growing up. My dentist suggested we put a crown on the tooth so that we can make that tooth look straight. I agreed. When the crown was first done, there was sensitivity to the hot and cold. The dentist told me this was normal for the first few weeks. Eventually, my cheek swelled up. I went to the ER and they told me that I had a tooth infection and needed to see a dentist. I went to a different dentist because I was losing faith in my current one. This dentist confirmed the tooth was infected and told me she believes it happened because my dental crown has open margins which allowed for food debris to get in there. She even showed it to me on an x-ray. I’ve spent a fortune dealing with this and had to replace this crown with another, plus get a root canal treatment from the tooth infection. I called my dentist asking for a refund on the part I’d already paid, which is about half. They told me the infection was my own fault for not caring for my teeth and not only will they not give me a refund but they expect me to pay the rest of the bill or they’ll take me to collections. What do I do?
Ellie
Dear Ellie,
I am so sorry this has happened to you. Take what I’m saying with the understanding that I have not examined you and am basing this just on the description you gave. It sounds like your dentist is at fault here by violating the standard of care, which led to you having a dental emergency. One thing that is imperative a dentist do after placing a dental crown is to run an explorer around the margins to make sure they are properly closed. Based on what you’ve described your dentist either skipped that or didn’t want to admit their was a problem with his work.
The good news is you have an x-ray that shows the open margins. I would start by telling them that and see if the second dentist would be willing to help you get a refund from them. Sometimes a dentist will be more willing to listen to a peer than a patient. If that doesn’t work, you can threaten to go to the dental board. He won’t want that. You could also ask a lawyer to write a threatening letter for you. Sometimes the threat of a lawsuit is all that is needed.
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