Just need to vent... why I despise dentists. Went from a filing to major jaw surgery.
 

I went in to a dental office on February 13th for an exam and cleaning. They found several cavities and we set up an appointment for the following day to fill two of the cavities, one of which was causing pain. They were unable to get me into the same office and set up an appointment at another one of their offices for the following morning. I then saw a 2nd dentist, who upon looking at the x-rays stated that tooth #31 needed to be extracted. I asked him why he felt that way as the previous dentist said he should be able to fill the tooth. He pointed to the x-ray and said "I don't know why he didn't see that"... I told him that I did not want the tooth extracted and he said that was the only option. Thinking that he was the professional, I felt I had no other choice than to have the tooth extracted. Big mistake...

First, he never even attempted to repair the tooth. Second, he never went over any of the repercussions of having the tooth extracted. That tooth supported the two molars above it and I’ve been told since, that now the tooth has been extracted, the two molars have no opposite force bearing on them when I bite down and if I don’t get an implant, those two teeth will loosen and eventually fall out and cause more problems. The average cost of an implant is $3500.

The tooth was extracted on Thursday. Over the next 3 days, there was pain in my lower right jaw and tongue. By Sunday morning, my tongue has swelled up and I could barely talk/breath through my mouth. I was really worried and since their office was closed, started feeling around on the inside of my mouth. I found a needle sharp piece of tooth, which I was told later, was bone, protruding out horizontally and it actually dug a hole into the base of my tongue, which I’m assuming then became infected. I put force on the sharp piece and it either broke off or moved… I couldn’t find it afterwards. By the end of the day, the swelling had gone down significantly, but there was still a lot of pain. I called Monday and explained the situation and they had me come in that afternoon to have it looked at. The 3rd dentist I saw that day said everything looked okay and that the stiff jaw was typical after an extraction.

By Thursday, the pain in my jaw and the stiffness increased; I couldn’t open my jaw 1 inch at this point, so I called again and was told that it wasn’t normal and for me to come back in that afternoon. I go in that afternoon, they clipped off some pices of bone that were causing discomfort and I was basically told that the stiffness was normal after an extraction and it should be fine in a week. I was also given another prescription for an anti-biotic.

Well… by Tuesday February 26th, there was no improvement, so I called the office again and they said they had an oral surgeon in a 3rd office and wanted me to go see him. I explained to him, that if anything, my jaw was even more stiff, but it was not as painful when trying to open my jaw. The oral surgeon said that it was due to a dislocated TMJ disc. He gave me a prescription for a muscle relaxer and said that if the disc didn’t pop back in by itself in a week, they would send me to the dental hospital.

On Monday, March 4th, 2013, I called and spoke with both the office manager and practice owner and was told that the problem I was experiencing had nothing to do with the extraction... Hmm.. I could eat before the extraction and not after... *scratching head* The practice owner said that I would need to see a specialist and I told him that I couldn't afford the out of pocket expense and his reply was "There must be a free clinic somewhere".

On Wednesday, March 6, I went to see an oralfacial pain specialist and was diagnosed with a rare case of acute lock jaw (TMD). She is recommending 3 weeks of therapy and if at that time there is no improvement; surgery will most likely be the only option. And The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research considers TMJ surgery to be controversial and recommends that it be avoided whenever possible.
Luckily I work at the university where the specialist practices and they are doing a payroll deduction for the visit, but now they want a $1200+ MRI, 6 physical therapy visits at $130 a pop and then if there are no results, I'm looking at jaw surgery, which I'm sure is going to be rather expensive. And unfortunately, the surgery has such a low success rate, that there is only one surgeon that the specialist knows of that performs the surgery and it's a 3 hour drive away...

All of this over a tooth that was supposed to have a cavity filled…

It’s been 3 weeks today and I can’t open my jaw more than ¾’s of an inch. I have a new puppy coming home in 2 and a half weeks and I’m going to court in 5 weeks for custody of my daughter. Talk about stress…

Just needed to vent…

I'm going through something similar (or rather have been for several years) and it is literally a pain. I have not eaten on the right side of my mouth in years and am now developing gum disease because eating helps naturally keep plaque off teeth. In the past year and a half I've probably been to the dentist 12 times. I've had all sorts of bite deprogrammers, re-programmers, devices that forced my front teeth forward, I've had my teeth drilled and re-shapen many times. I have TMJ and often my jaw locks shut or I have to purposefully move it in a jig-jag motion if I want to open it more than 1 inch. My dentist and I believe my problem stems from the two crowns I have on the right side, the very last teeth on the top and bottom are both crowned and they've never fit together right. I also had a huge overbite which exacerbated the problem but he's basically fixed that with all the other devices and re-shaping every tooth in my mouth. However the TMJ and the pain on that side are just as bad, in fact the pain trying to chew on that side is worse now that my jaws fit together better.

I'm torn between having him pull the bottom tooth and crown, or having him try to re-crown it. I don't want to lose the tooth completely but the crown is expensive for me even with decent dental insurance.

I hope you're able to find a solution. I don't think my case is as bad even though I've been dealing with this for about 6 years but I'm long past just being in denial about it or not caring anymore.

Sounds like a tough time, but if you can get to it, you can get through it! Just try to be optimistic, keep your head up, and work to make things fall into place. We all have trials and tribulations in life.. sometimes they just suck more than others.

I am so sorry. I hate assembly line dentistry. I like to see the same dentist or doctor every time. I can't believe you were advised to have that tooth pulled. For goodness sake, they can save almost anything now days. I had two molars with previous fillings. They eventually cracked. They were ground down and crowned, but they are just fine.

Your story reminds me of my daughter's orthodontic nightmare. She first started braces in the 1990's. She was 8 or 9. It was old school, assembly line orthodontics. Started with a palate expander, lip bumper and first stage of braces. When through various stages of braces coming on and off. When her upper canines failed to come down, she had surgery to allow them to be pulled down. Braces continued into high school. She was driving. Drove herself to the orthodontist. He called me at home and told me he was taking her braces off. Why? Because there was damage to the roots of her 4 front teeth. He was afraid to do any more, because they might fall out. WHAT? He took the brace off. My daughter came home, looked in the mirror and cried. Her teeth looked like the before picture.

I found an orthodontist who uses a more gentle type of braces. He was willing to work on my daughter. Her teeth look so much better and no, they didn't fall out. I contacted the previous orthodontist and asked, "Would you post a picture of my daughter's smile quoting, "After nine years of orthodontic work, you too could have a smile like this?" He gave me a full refund - I'm sure upon advice from his attorney.

I hope you heal completely and do not need surgery. Please update us on your progress.

wow!

This is exactly why it always takes about 5 years to get my husband to go for a checkup at the dentist. He doesn't trust them as far as he can throw them because every single time we go in, they always seem to find stuff to charge you for...

I've used the same dentist recently from when I had to have my wisdom teeth pulled. he finishing up fillings next week for me. I will definitely miss him. Dentists terrify me for exactly the problems they've been known to cause when theres other methods. I still have to have my last wisdom tooth pulled but the way its set on my jaw, I have to have it yanked by an oral surgeon. Unfortunately, I won't be hear to use who he recommends because I'm going back to maryland in a couple weeks so I have to find someone there. NOT looking forward to it. Best of luck. Hope someone fixes this problem for you.

I've lucked out, I've been really happy with both my dentists (the original one retired and sold his practice, and I've never had a problem with the new guy so I stayed on). I've had a LOT of work done. It's rare for me to go longer than a month without being at the dentist, but I've had some major problems since childhood that my parents could not afford to fix, and I have genetically bad/soft teeth (prone to cavities). Also my dentist tries to save money when possible. For example if he sees a small area of decay he will wait at least a year (so check it on the next set of x-rays) before saying I should consider a filling.

Why didn't you tell this jerkzoid that you would be looking for a free legal clinic instead of a free dental clinic. No WAY should they get away with that.


Jelpy

Thanks everyone... some of those stories made me cringe!

As it stands right now, I have an accupuncture appointment in the morning, a physical therapy appt in the afternoon and then therapy for the next two weeks. If that fails... surgery will follow. I wouldn't even mind surgery if they told me they had a 90% sucess rate... but being told it's less than 40?!? It's considered "controversial" and can cause more problems, rather than fixing the problem... *shaking head*

Not to mention that none of this is covered by Blue Cross of course until I pay the $2800 deductible and then I'm still responsible up to another $12k out of pocket by the time it's said and done. Lots of luck there :)