Criminal Dentists

Every profession has ppl like that, everyone wants an extra buck.

It's easier to have just one toof that way you know what's going on.

Well not that experience...but here is mine. I had to have a wisdom tooth removed. My dentist referred me to a dental surgeon but warned me not to let the guy talk me into getting all my teeth done. I shoulda asked for someone else. So I go see this guy and he recommends not just my bottom wisdom teeth (one of which was bothering me) but my uppers too. Now, up until this point I had never had my upper wisdom teeth even hint that they were going to come through, unlike my bottom ones which would come up and then recede again. I was reluctant because of what my dentist told me. This guy then tells me my teeth are rather crowded (wasn't news to me) and that by getting my uppers done, my upper teeth would have more room. So that made sense and I figured (being the big chicken I am) to get them all done at once so that I wouldn't have to endure the procedure a second time down the road.

Well when I get back to my dentist at my next check-up, I tell him what this so-called dental surgeon told me. He said that what I was told was incorrect....that when teeth are removed, they don't space apart but have a tendency to fall forward.

I shoulda sued. Not only did I have an unnecessary procedure done that has impacted (no pun intended) the spacing of my upper teeth, but it cost me an extra $500 to do it. I am still pissed off with the guy and myself to this day.

I had a dentist who was crooked/stupid once. I grind my teeth at night (they are very small/worn down for my age) and that would have made me a candidate for TMJ in the future (didn't have it yet.)

The dentist took a sander to my teeth and shortened all of them so that my mouth would close differently. That night, my jaw started clicking whenever it opened and each day it grew steadily worse.

I went back to him three times, each complianing it was more severe. Every time he said my mouth hadn't "adjusted" yet, and he sanded more of my teeth down (and I paid for it all three times.) Once his dental assistant I could tell was very angry with him.

After that I got a new dentist, who explained that my old dentist was trying to take a shortcut through a very long procedure, had worn down my teeth even further unnecessarily, and had sparked my TMJ. Every time my jaw is killing me I think about that stupid dentist. I didn't sue, because I would have developed TMJ eventually anyway. he just helped it along, shortened my teeth, and charged me for it.

Perhaps you could have sued for the unnecessary procedure, experiencing something that didn't have to happen so soon and especially the cost you are out of pocket.

What I don't get is why he never gave you a night guard. I too grind my teeth at night. I met with reluctance from my dentist over getting one (because I wasn't experiencing pain...do I have to wait until that point??) but I was firm on what I wanted. After all, he even said that I had worn down teeth and stress cracks. So now I have the night guard, which I believe is saving my teeth. I drool like crazy when I sleep, but I'd rather deal with that then further harm to my teeth.

I don't know why he didn't reccomend one. It really makes me angry. It's been a couple years since then (yes, jaw getting continually worse) and I wish I had sued. I was only 18 years old at the time and was afraid to challenge an adult - especially with a weakened case (that it would have developed anyway.)

My new dentist is making me a night gaurd if my insurance company approves it. It is very expensive.

He says sports bite gaurds are bad for you because they are chewy and that you won't grind your teeth but you'll still be making the grinding motions instead of letting your jaw relax. He makes this hard custom-fit gaurd that fits only on the top teeth and rests flatly on the bottom ones. I'm really hoping my insurance company approves it.

He made me a mini one (just for my front teeth) so that I wouldn't grind - to see if the problem was from grinding and not from some other problems, and it made them feel oh so much better. Unfortunately, I can't wear that one too much it was just a test device. *sigh.*

truth
I have had four deeply impacted wisdom teeth and a missing front incisor, broken off at the age of 17 playing playground basketball. After many years messing around with crowns (even swallowing one in a sandwhich in Mexico once), I had a permanent crown installed (what do they call it? Implant). To do this, for some reason the oral surgeon had to remove my upper wisdom teeth (something an oral surgeon told me back in 1976 I should leave alone. I remember his phrase: "Let sleeping dogs lie"). Anyway, the oral surgeon removed the wisdom teeth quickly and without problem (technology had improved since 1976--this was in 1995). But after a couple of years the implant came loose and had to be removed by another oral surgeon (implantologist). I should have known better. While the oral surgeon was doing the implant he was listening, with passion, to Rush Limbaugh, on the radio. I found out later that he is a Limbaugh DeadHead. I am now in the process of having new bone (cow bone) fusing with my bone, and in a few months I'll have the new implant installed - by a liberal dentist, of course. I am also in the process of having my lower teeth straigthened by means of "invisalign", invisable computer-directed braces, mainly for adults. The results so far are phenomenal. I change "trays" (plastic devices which force my teeth to move in desired directions, stipulted by a computer program). But it is a bit of a nuissance. Each time I change the tray (every two weeks), it causes about 20 minutes of pain, until the new position of teeth is accomplished. My problem is that I hope the new positioning of teeth will permit proper occlusion (lining up of upper and lower teeth). One just hopes that they know what they're doing.
A few years ago I had a pain in my lower back molar. A dentist said that my wisdom tooth MAY have been moving against the molar but he could not tell if it was touching up against or pushing against it. He said that he would have to take another picture later. I commented, half-jokingly "Could I just have the back molar removed so that the wisdom tooth would not have anything to press against?" He said that was fine and pulled the molar. Now he didn't tell me that because of the loss of the bottom molar the corresponding upper molar would eventually come out by itself (for lack of occlusion). Two years later I was talking to another dentist about my lack of back molars (upper and lower) and how I lost it. He was amazed that the dentist was willing to pull the tooth unnecessarily. He said that was against the dental creed. He asked me the dentist's name when I told him he was amazed. He used to work with that dentist and just about the time that he pulled my tooth, he committed suicide, which explains his fall from the creed.
Such a life.

P.S.: How much does the guard cost? Mine was
just over $300 (Canadian) if I recall correctly. And that included two follow-ups as well. For me it was a bargain since I was very concerned about my teeth and having anything left within another ten years!

JLNobody: How awful! It seems more and more a person has to arm themselves with information before getting any procedures done.

Before coming back home almost 2 years ago, I had seen a dentist who said I had a cracked tooth (I had gone to see him about pain in that tooth) and that I needed a crown. I didn't really have a lot of faith in this guy given how he failed to do much of anything about a different dental problem I had. Since I knew I was coming home I decided to wait until moving back and then saw my old dentist. He told me what I would need was a root canal and then a crown...eventually. (I'd had a filling come out in that tooth...had no dental plan at the time...left it....big mistake!....finally got it looked after, but the hole was really big by then.) He said that if I'd had the crown, it would have had to be removed at some point to do the root canal, so it would have ended up being more expensive, and more of an arduous process. I'm glad I waited. I'll have to have the root canal, then a post, and then a crown over the tooth. I'm not looking forward to it.

It's amazing how much our teeth affect our health!