I will either be an inspiration or a cautionary tale

November 2015
It's getting close to Thanksgiving.
I still have the burning gums and excruciating cold sensitivity to anything even room temperature.
I can chew very soft foods on the bridge but I try not to. so much food gets stuck under it and it hurts when that happens. My tooth is sore all the time. not throbbing or aching, just a deep soreness especially if touched. It feels like a wound that just won't heal. I just chew on the other side. I'm used to it. I've been chewing only on that side for 13 months now.

I go to my "new dentist"
First I see the assistant and she asks me about my dental history. I tell her I have had some degree of pain for more than a year now. I have had somewhere in the vicinity of 47 appointments and they have all gone very badly. I start to cry. I can't help it. I can't speak about it without crying.

She tells me they sent for my xrays but my former dentist would not provide them. She has to take xrays she says. She also says "I'm sorry this happened to you" which makes me cry worse.
She also says "you are safe here" which although I wanted to believe her, that turned out not to be entirely true.

The dentist comes in and looks at my xrays. He agrees with the second opinion dentist that I have a short margin and my tooth was underprepared for the bridge to leave enough clearance. He thinks my tooth looks ok and is not dying. He looks in my mouth at the ugly bridge.
He asks me am I in so much pain and is the pain so severe that I am unable to brush that crowned tooth? No I say, I still brush I just have to warm up the water first. He says you have a lot of build up. No I say.. I just had my cleaning 2 months ago, are you looking at the stuff chipping off the metal collar of the crown I ask. Yes he says, that is what is irritating your gums. Oh I tell him.. that is not tartar build up... that is something doctor psycho painted on and cured with a light. he said it would help the sensitivity and it didn't. Now it's chipping off.

Well that has to come off he says. it is touching your gums. that just is not done he says.
this might hurt he says, but it should feel better after. and he takes his scrapy tool that they use to clean your teeth with and digs and scrapes this composite stuff off the metal collar and out from under my gums.
It does hurt some but when he is finished there is already less burning feeling.
He says my gums should heal now.
He says yes I do have a short margin on that crown but he does not think it is the cause of my sensitivity. He thinks my bite is still off. He checks it and he is correct. He grinds some more off the bridge.. it is already so ugly what does it matter.
I tell him I really just want the bridge to be cut off. I want to crown my tooth. I want to keep the gap. I just want this to be over with.
He has the means and the tools to take digital impressions so I do not have to go through goopy impressions again. He has the cerec cad/cam thing that could make me a crown in 1 appointment. But he says no. He says digital impressions are not good for molars and neither are cerec crowns. He says if that is what I want to do I will still need goopy impressions and still have to wait for a lab to make a crown.

He says if I want he can make me a new bridge... he says he can make one without metal if I feel the metal is bothering me.
Of course he was actually lying to me but I did not know at the time. you can indeed use digital impressions with no goop for molars. But he was pretty sure that if I was going to have to go through the impressions anyway and have it done in 2 appointments that I would feel I may as well get another expensive bridge instead of a cheap crown. Looking back now.. he reminds me of a smarmy car salesman. always closing, always looking to make a deal.

Anyway, he adjusted my bite and he also polished the bridge so it was not as rough and scratchy feeling. We left it at I would call him when I was ready to do anything else. Or that I should call him if I felt no improvement,. He said keep using the sensitive toothpaste.

My tooth ached for a few days after adjustment.
My gums improved after he scraped out the composite. They were not red and swollen and burning anymore.
At least he was right about that much. There was never any improvement in the cold sensitivity but I was not ready to go back so soon. I would have gone back if he had agreed to just let me have a crown, but I was not ready to go through another whole bridge procedure. Especially considering my insurance would not pay anything towards the fake tooth since they had already paid psycho dentist. I thought maybe I would go ahead if I ever got a refund.

I called the dental association and asked if they forgot about me.
I got a call back from the same dentist on the committee as before. He made me tell him the entire thing again. He said it was still under review. He also told me doctor psycho was "an excellent dentist" so much for being an "impartial" member of the committee I thought.

The holidays came and went and I still never heard back from them and before I knew it, it was January 2016

I was not in agony anymore as long as I avoided salads, yogurt, milk shakes, fruits, lunch meats, cereal..sandwiches..anything cold really. as long as I warmed up water to brush. I always chewed on my "good side" but because of the location of the tooth even things I had chewed on the other side may brush against it when swallowing.. so cold things were just out of the question. If I left the tooth alone it left me alone for the most part. When my gums or my tooth hurt I soaked my super floss in a numbing solution and flossed under and around the bridge. I took advil... I continued to spend a lot of money on sensitivity products that never worked. I was always afraid what would happen to me if I lost the ability to chew on my "good side" and of course that day was coming...

In 2016 I was really just burnt out on dentists. I had been through so many bad appointments I just needed some time off from going at all. I was not feeling great, but I was not in agony, and I figured I would rather deal with what was already going on than to risk letting another dentist leave me worse off than I already was, because so far that is all that had happened to me. This fed the dental phobia. I could not stop thinking if only I had not let them replace that filling. And even after they broke my tooth if only I had said I can not afford a crown or I can not afford a root canal. extracting it would have been so much better.
After extraction if only I had learned to get used to the gap, if only I had not let this dentist talk me into 2 bridges I would have been so much better off.

I did not see a dentist again until April 2016. I was a month over due for a cleaning and decided I would get it done, before I ended up with gum disease. I made an appointment with the same "new dentist" who had done the bite adjustment and scraped the composite off the bridge.

The hygienist was nice, and did not hurt me, and when I told her the tooth under the bridge was very sensitive she was very careful of it. But then.. she went and told the dentist what I said. That I was not better.
So he came in, adjusted my bite again, and also adjusted the contour.
He said the bridge should really come off but that he was not going to rush me into it. He said he could make me a new one with no metal. He said it would be a perfect fit. He promised me that he would NEVER send me out of his office in a bridge like the one I had on,. so I told him to go ahead and submit an estimate to my insurance and we would at least find out what they would pay and I would know how much it would cost me. It had already cost me so much.. not just in money but in pain and suffering and quality of life.

The bite adjustment was very painful because my tooth was so sore and because of the cold water spray on my excruciating cold sensitivity. My tooth ached for a full week afterwards. When it suddenly stopped aching I wondered if it had died.
I tried chewing on it....... and to my surprise I was able to. the excruciating cold sensitivity was still there. I could not chew cold things, but I could chew warm or hot things and not just soft foods. I was able to chew normally. I should have stopped there/ I should have quit while I was ahead. If it's not broke don't fix it! But meanwhile the estimate came for a new bridge. It was to be a beautiful zirconia bridge. It was to look and feel and function like teeth.. and maybe when I looked in my mouth and had to brush my teeth I would not be filled with such rage and hatred at the dentists who caused these problems.. and maybe I would not have cold sensitivity and maybe I would feel better without this cheap metal that I was sensitive to as well. So I called and I made an appointment.. because he promised that he could help me and I believed him.

My appointment was in May 2016 and I had LOTS of questions. what will it look like, what will it feel like, how will you make sure I don't gag during the impressions, how will you make sure this is a perfect fit and does not leave me worse off than I already am.
And he made a lot of promises, and he gave me a lot of hope, and I agreed to come back and have him cut off this bridge and make me a new one, even though all I really wanted was to crown my tooth and leave the gap.

The end of May 2016 I went to get my bridge cut off. My husband lost a day's pay to bring me.
I showed up early for my appointment and they took me right in to start getting me numb. I was afraid but I was also excited to be getting rid of this bridge. I had been in this bridge for 9 months, and now I was getting it done for the 3rd time in less than a year. I was afraid all this trauma to the tooth and being worked on so many times would be just too much and my tooth would die.

The dentist gives me a shot, and it hurts more than I am used to, and it also seems to be given in a strange place. Keep in mind I have had shots for this tooth many times, There was the crown prep 3 temp crowns and 2 bridges. I know where the shot goes but that is not where he put it. It also tasted really foul. They had me laying all the way down, angled towards the floor which I HATE and it seemed like half the shot just leaked back out the syringe and dripped down my throat. Then he let me sit up and he left me to tend to other patients. I did not like the way the office was set up. there were no actual "exam rooms" with doors or privacy. There were just cubicles. you could look through and see other people getting worked on. I didn't like it. or you could be just walking by and see people.

He came back about 15 minutes later to ask how was I doing. Well I have one numb spot in the middle of my cheek, and that is it. He gave me another shot, and it still hurt and much of it dripped down my throat.
He left me again for around 15 minutes. Again he asked how I was doing. The same I said. My lip is not numb or even tingly. I have one small numb spot in the middle of my cheek. This time he gave me 2 shots right in my gums on the side that faces my tongue. 2 shots where the needle went right under my tooth near where I guess the roots must be. These shots were even more painful. I had never had shots like this before. My lip began to tingle but never got numb. He said something about some people's anatomy just being different and the anesthetic not getting where it needs to be. and I thought back to doctor psycho who had specifically said how easy it was to tell on me where the shots should go.
Eventually after I had been there about an hour he decided it was time to start.

He began cutting and drilling on the bridge to get it off. The cold water spray hurt because I was not numb. I decided I just wanted it over with and I would just suck it up and deal with the pain but as it went on and on tears began to roll down my face. 2 assistants were holding my hands, telling me it was almost over and they were sorry I wasn't numb all the way. Finally he said "the bridge is off" and I heaved a sigh of relief and sat up. They gave me tissues so I could wipe my eyes and blow my nose. I remember thanking God I had not let him talk me into doing a traditional bridge as he had originally suggested, because that would have meant crown prepping my premolar. we were just going to use the notch that had already been cut out of it. I remember thinking how I would not have been able to tolerate the agony of a crown prep without being numb.
Next we did the goopy impressions. The bottom was done first and was over quickly. I made him promise he would not get goop all over my pallet doing the top, and he did promise. He said it would be fast, just a few minutes. He put the tray in and I was relieved that goo did not spread everywhere. But then he left me alone again to tend to other patients. I was listening to music on my headphones. 1 song finished.. another started.. I knew it had been more than 3 minutes but he didn't come back. another song played, and then another. finally he came back. That was a long few minutes I tried to say but you can not really speak with a tray in your mouth. He tried to pull it out but it did not come. He rocked it and jiggled it side to side and it did not come. he tried to break the suction and it did not come. I was starting to panic and it was starting to feel like my teeth were coming out. Finally it was out and I actually stuck my finger in my mouth to check if my fillings were still in my teeth because it felt like they came out. Everything seemed ok but my teeth hurt for a while

Then it was time to put on my temporary bridge. I asked if I could have the sedative cement but he said no. He said it was not strong enough. He cemented my temporary bridge and had me bite on cotton rolls to hold it in place. then he cleaned it up. He checked my bite and it was off. He adjusted it some. He told me I was not allowed to floss it at all but to brush normally. and that was it, it was over. I rinsed out my mouth before I got out of the chair.. and to my delight and amazement the cold sensitivity that I had lived with all this time was gone. entirely gone. instantly gone. I could already tell, because he had never got me numb enough.

When I got home and tried to eat I couldn't. even though I was only trying to chew on the other side and not on the bridge there was some crashing and grinding noises going on when my teeth would hit the bridge. I called the office and asked could I come back. They said yes I could come right in.

When I was in the waiting room the dentist came out, and I thought it was to call me in, but it wasn't. he was annoyed to see me. "nobody told me you were coming back" he said. like as if I had just shown up without calling. Then he disappeared into another room. After a while longer of waiting an assistant came for me. She brought me to a cubicle and asked if I knew where about my bite was off, whether it was my real tooth or the wing or the false tooth. I told her it was mostly the false tooth and the wing. She checked it with the paper and said yes the pontic had a few high spots and to my surprise she began drilling on it. Really? an assistant is performing dentistry on me? I had never been worked on by an assistant before. The dentist came in and said "I'll do it" in as irritated a tone as he had used in the waiting room.
He ground it down some and the cold water spray did not hurt at all! I asked if I could sit up, because my bite feels different sitting up than it does laying down. He let me, and he checked my bite again, and it felt better. He told me that just because the temporary was off did not mean my new expensive zirconia bridge would need adjusting, he said my bridge would be a perfect fit.

I went home, and again I tried to eat. I was able to chew on the other side without my teeth crashing into the bridge, but I was not able to chew on the actual bridge. That's ok I thought, I am so used to only chewing on one side anyway, and when my beautiful zirconia comes in I will chew on both sides just like a normal person. But that is not what happened.

Not sure if we can curse here. I keep reading your journal every day. In fact it has become more addictive then Netflix by now. There were so many times I just wanted to reply “Holy f.cking sh.t”. You have the worst luck to find a reliable dentist. It is like all the bad dentists moved to your area. =( I wish I could lend you mine! I mean just as a patient reading all their choices of treatment just don’t make sense.

I am pissed and confused by a few things though. From what I read you have such good instincts and such strengths in you that you should let your opinion out more. You are not just a prop these guys can play around with if you don’t feel ok with something, if your gut sais it is not good you should stop. Stop them, stop going to that clinic. I know it feels to be exposed to be there and have all your faith in these “doctors” but from what I read it seems you had all the good thoughts while being there. If you feel uncomfortable with the young girl treating you then you can just deny it and say you want to wait for your regular doc. If the music and the whole atmosphere doesn’t feel good change the clinic. Although I totally understand that not having problems before doesn’t make you suspicious. But seriously you need to get a real dentist! I don’t fully understand who these guys are and how you find them. Is there something over there like non-private and private practices? Were these private? Were they recommended by someone? Are you still with any of these butchers? While reading your story I just want to scream at my computer screen and tell you to run as far as you can.


There were a few things that really shocked me. Taking that much Advil at once is toxic. Taking them for several weeks or months is crazy toxic. Maximum level is 4 per day. How did you even survive 12? I had crazy tooth ace a few weeks ago, took in 10 Advils, nothing happened but I puked for like 2 days with stomach ace afterwards and with a weird heart ace it was so toxic. Also I am hugely pissed at your doctors if you ask for prescription painkillers they should give them to you. Could you not go to your general doctor for something stronger? But mainly those docs should have given you stronger stuff. And should have been concerned for your toxic Advil intake.

The snake episode…. ??? No hospital? After a snake bite?

Leaving a gap. I am sure that you have researched this but leaving a gap is a bad idea unfortunately =( Not that what they did was better. But leaving a gap would have ended you up in a similar position.

Just felt I have to react something. I am biting my finger nails over here in worry what will happen next.

Duh I am just really pissed at your “doctors”

Scarlett88 said:

Not sure if we can curse here. I keep reading your journal every day. In fact it has become more addictive then Netflix by now. There were so many times I just wanted to reply “Holy f.cking sh.t”. You have the worst luck to find a reliable dentist. It is like all the bad dentists moved to your area. =( I wish I could lend you mine! I mean just as a patient reading all their choices of treatment just don’t make sense.

Hi Scarlett, thank you for reading.
I live in a small rural town. We don't have a lot of dentists here. There are actually only 2 that are near me. One is the dentist I went to for the second opinion, the other is the one who was my dentist for over a decade and who I trusted because in all those years I only saw him when he looked at my xrays and told me everything was fine. I never needed any work done so I had no way of knowing it was not a safe place to have work done. My husband was also a patient there for more than a decade, and had his cleanings and also some fillings done. But they were done by the man who we considered to be "our dentist" they were not done by his daughter. I was shocked when I finally needed work done and he did not show up. But I thought he was a good dentist and would not allow this girl to work on me if she was not capable. Yes I did want to run out of the office and I wish I had. But I can't change that now. My tooth did not even have decay below that filling and should have just been left alone.

I am pissed and confused by a few things though. From what I read you have such good instincts and such strengths in you that you should let your opinion out more. You are not just a prop these guys can play around with if you don’t feel ok with something, if your gut sais it is not good you should stop. Stop them, stop going to that clinic. I know it feels to be exposed to be there and have all your faith in these “doctors” but from what I read it seems you had all the good thoughts while being there. If you feel uncomfortable with the young girl treating you then you can just deny it and say you want to wait for your regular doc. If the music and the whole atmosphere doesn’t feel good change the clinic. Although I totally understand that not having problems before doesn’t make you suspicious. But seriously you need to get a real dentist! I don’t fully understand who these guys are and how you find them. Is there something over there like non-private and private practices? Were these private? Were they recommended by someone? Are you still with any of these butchers? While reading your story I just want to scream at my computer screen and tell you to run as far as you can.

When I went to the dentist with the annoying office and loud music.. I did not know then the things that I know now. The things he has done are actually worse than what I have told so far, but I am trying to go in the chronological order of what has happened. At the time I had never had a crown or root canal before. I did not know that you are never supposed to put a permanent crown on a tooth that is aching. I had never heard of a dental dam until I read about then on this site. I did not know he was just profiting off my pain. By the time I got the extraction done I thought it was nice of him to offer to credit me back the cost of the crown towards a bridge. I did not have a lot of money to spend and I had already paid so much money that I thought this was going to be great.
Everything is "private" here it is not like being in the UK and having the NHS. I try to find dentists who will accept my insurance. I di not have very good insurance and even with what insurance will pay it still costs me quite a bit. Another thing is I had tried to see other dentists but they all told me "if you are not happy with the work you have to go back and have him fix it" nobody wants to take over another dentists mistakes. also once you report a dentist to the state dental board they all know about it and they don't want you as a patient.

There were a few things that really shocked me. Taking that much Advil at once is toxic. Taking them for several weeks or months is crazy toxic. Maximum level is 4 per day. How did you even survive 12?

the maximum prescription strength dosage of advil (ibuprofen) is 2400mgs per day which equals 12 over the counter tablets. 4 at a time, every 8 hours 3 times a day is 12 tablets. or 3 a day of the 800 mg prescription strength.
and no it is not good for you to take them every day for so many months and can cause serious problems but is not an over dose.
I took this in conjunction with 3,000mgs tylenol


I had crazy tooth ace a few weeks ago, took in 10 Advils, nothing happened but I puked for like 2 days with stomach ace afterwards and with a weird heart ace it was so toxic.

10 is a lot to take at once and can cause stomach problems

Also I am hugely pissed at your doctors if you ask for prescription painkillers they should give them to you. Could you not go to your general doctor for something stronger? But mainly those docs should have given you stronger stuff. And should have been concerned for your toxic Advil intake.

If you ask for something for pain they look at you like you are a drug addict. Because I have been to so many dental appointments in 2 years I have not even had a check up by a doctor in over 3 years now, and am no longer considered their patient. I do not have a doctor anymore. that is why when he gave me that infection I had to go to the emergency room.



The snake episode…. ??? No hospital? After a snake bite?

We don't have poisonous snakes here. It scared the hell out of me, but the punctures were tiny. it literally looked like 4 staple marks on my foot. The pain went away with the cold water.

Leaving a gap. I am sure that you have researched this but leaving a gap is a bad idea unfortunately =( Not that what they did was better. But leaving a gap would have ended you up in a similar position.

It may have caused problems, or it may not. There are lots of people who live happily ever after with a missing tooth. It depends on your bite and also your age. the younger you are when you lose a tooth the faster they shift. If the opposing tooth also comes down on another tooth it may not super erupt. But I knew none of this at the time. That is part of why I want to write this all down. I want people to know they have rights and choices and options and do not have to just blindly open their mouths and let dentists do whatever they want.

Just felt I have to react something. I am biting my finger nails over here in worry what will happen next.

Duh I am just really pissed at your “doctors”

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Thank you. I hope I have answered all your questions.
anything else feel free to ask. and LOL@ it being addictive. I just hope by writing it all down I can let go of the rage I feel, and I hope I can get the point across that people should ask lots of questions before agreeing to work they don't understand and know that you have a right to say NO to any treatment.

June 2016
I began to have a mild throbbing ache in my tooth under the bridge. I went back to taking advil and the pain was relieved. I still had no cold sensitivity so that was awesome. It was almost like having my life back. But I worried about this ache. Also my gums had never stopped hurting. at first I thought it was from those horrible shots because that is where the pain was. it was on the side that faced my tongue. when I would speak and the side of my tongue would brush against the side of the tooth or my gums it was very sore. It was also as red as if I had just had the crown prep done. I also knew how much I was going to have to pay for this bridge. My insurance was not going to pay anything towards the false tooth because they consider it a crown and they had already paid dr psycho for the crown that was extracted. I was going to have to pay $1200 out of pocket.

I made 2 calls that day. One to the dental association to see why they had just blown me off so long. It had been going on a year since I filed a request for peer review in sept of 2015. I had agreed they could examine me and yet now there was nothing to examine. dr psychos work had been removed and I was in a temp bridge. I had nothing to show them of his work or how he left me other than xrays and a photograph.

I also placed a call to the dentist because of this ache and taking advil.

The dentist office said to come in.

The dental association gave me some long story about how the woman who used to work there (for 35 years I am told) had to leave because she had dementia. My file was empty she said. she would look into it but she knew nothing about it. she had only just started working there she said.

At my dentist appointment they checked my bite and it was still off. They did not think anything was wrong with my gums. the assistant said something about it being sore "from the incision" but tools were in my mouth and I was not able to say "what incision??" maybe she meant the shots.

They adjusted my bite and told me to still take my advil that night but in the morning to let it wear off and see if there was improvement. I did, and there was. the aching stopped after the bite adjustment and I was so relieved, because I had been so scared my perfectly good tooth was going to die from the trauma of having 3 bridges done in a year.

I did not hear back from the dental association and I started to take it as a lost cause. I figured I was never going to get a refund and I figured I had been silent long enough and that people should know what this dentist had done to me, before he did the same to them.
I decided to write a review of the work I had done. I tried to tell only of the work that had been done, and the poor results of that work. I tried to leave my pain and suffering and anguish and feelings entirely out of it. In fact I think I will copy my reviews and show them to you, but I will remove the names because I know that is not allowed. I will probably show you the review of the other dentist too, because that was pretty interesting when the dentists' mommy (I kid you not!) responded to my review. very professional isn't it to have your mommy defend you as a dentist?

Anyway within a few minutes of posting my review the dentist was responding to it. Not only that but he was responding in unprofessional and unethical manner. He publicly posted that I was a liar and that the peer review committee and my insurance sided with him. He said this on a public page. my insurance had nothing to do with it, he billed them and they paid, he made it sound like there were "sides" to take. as for the peer review I thought it mighty odd that he would claim they "sided with him" when I never received any notice in the mail of any decision ever having been reached. He publicly posted that his "first recommendation to me was that I extract the tooth" REALLY? after I went around BEGGING for my tooth to be extracted? So he wants people to believe that he told me it should be extracted. Not only is that a bold faced lie, but if it were true would that not make him an even worse dentist? If he told me that my tooth needed to be extracted would it not have been unprofessional and unethical for him to charge me $2150 to work on a tooth that he knew was beyond saving? If he said extract the tooth and I had said no, should he not have just said sorry I can't work on it you will have to go elsewhere? Does he really expect anyone to believe that he told me to extract it and I said no please take my money and perform horrific and unnecessary procedures on me first?
Keeping in mind that I do not drive and have witnesses to my appointments? Keeping in mind that even after the crown failed to relieve my pain "minute by minute and hour by hour" as he promised, and even after the root canal failed he still NEVER offered extraction as an option and in fact tried to talk me into an expensive surgery to cut off the root tip?

I posted publicly in response that just the fact that he has to lie about it shows that he knows he treated me badly. then someone else posted that they thought it was unethical fo him to be posting my private information online. after that he went back and deleted all his posts

when a few people posted that they were sorry I had been through this, the dentist began messaging them on Facebook about me. I know because 2 of them took screen shots and showed me. telling them I lied and he told me to extract the tooth.

Before this point I had only blamed him for the 2 botched bridges and the infection he gave me. I did not blame him for my broken tooth because for 1 he is not the dentist who fractured it and for another I have been told it is difficult to diagnose a fractured tooth. But if he feels a need to lie and to tell people that he recommended it be extracted when he never once offered that option and made me BEG for it to be out, I do blame him now. He knew my tooth was beyond saving. He knew it was not "reversible pulpitis" and that is why his first recommendation was the crown. if he had root canaled it first and I was still in agony there would be no way I would pay him to crown it. but if he got the money out of me to crown it first he could still con me out of the root canal money, and then he hoped to con me out of thousands for an apicoectomy as well.

Later this day there was a sudden flood of people posting fake 5 star reviews for dr psycho. you could tell they were fake and you could tell he had sent them to try to bury my review. none of the reviews mentioned actual work done, they just said things like "HE'S GREAT 5 STARS"
one was from a woman who lived a dozen states away. as if she takes a 4 hour plane trip here and back to see this dentist.
funny how he is 68 years old and nobody ever felt like leaving him a review before that day. funny how reviews piled up all in one day by people who had never written a review of anything else..
Apparently it was also recognized by the review site as fraudulent behavior, because those reviews were not allowed to count towards his star rating.

also once you report a dentist to the state dental board they all know about it and they don't want you as a patient.

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Just wanted to pick up on this point as you've said it a couple of times.

You are quite right that some dentists will be more reluctant to take a patient on who has done this, and I'm sure you'll have encountered it - but it's important to not that this will definitely not apply to all dentists, particularly in cases like yours.

You were absolutely, totally right to report this dentist to the board. He is at best incompetent and out of his depth, at worst a straight up con artist, and he is putting patients at risk. You did the responsible thing there. Occasionally with a terrible dentist like that it will even be another dentist who pulls the trigger and reports them.

That's very, very different to a case where a patient makes a report unfairly or maliciously.

Generally in a local area, the other dentists will know who the dodgy dentists are, I suspect that he will be known to them. It's very unlikely they would ever say it out loud, but many of them would know what he's like. This means that there will be dentists out there somewhere who absolutely think you did the right thing and as a result would want to help you, not turn you away.

They're not all the same, I promise. I really hope that someday, when you feel ready, you'll find the right dentist for you. You deserve so much better.

I forgot to mention, because there were so many things going on at this time in June 2016
that when I went back for the bite adjustment with my aching tooth, my new zirconia bridge was already in. It had only been a week but there it was, much sooner than promised. I took this as a good sign that they had used a good local lab not some made in china thing like the last dentist who left me waiting 5 weeks at a time.

I also took it as a good sign that the dentist brought it out and showed it to me. The other dentist never let me see a bridge til it was too late and cemented in my mouth and I had gone home.

The bridge was beautiful and looked like real teeth but I did not set up the appointment to have it put on yet as I was waiting to make sure this aching stopped.

Also we discussed his inability to get me numb and I was very worried that it would happen again. Now to me it was his technique and putting the shots in the wrong place, but to him it was that something was wrong with me and my anatomy was strange. Either way he is the only dentist I have ever been to who was unable to get me numb. We decided that when I chose to have the temp off and zirconia on that I would come in earlier than my apt to start getting me numb and he also said he wanted the hygienist to give me a shot as well in case her technique differed from his.

straight away I looked up laws in the state because I never heard of hygienists giving anesthesia but it is legal here if they are licensed.

2
I also did not mention that my husbands vacation was coming up again and we had booked a lake house for the first week of july 2016, and I hoped that I was not going to spend it in misery and pain like last year.

3
I began calling the dental association weekly asking why there was still no update and I was told that she spoke to the head of the peer review and he had been under the impression that my case was "resolved" but when I asked what the resolution was she did not know. I told her that dr psycho is posting publicly that the review committee "sided with him" and I would like to know why I got nothing in the mail because by rights I have the option to appeal the decision within 30 days, so how can I appeal if I have not received it.

She said she would look into in further and get back to me.

Tink said:

Just wanted to pick up on this point as you've said it a couple of times.

You are quite right that some dentists will be more reluctant to take a patient on who has done this, and I'm sure you'll have encountered it - but it's important to not that this will definitely not apply to all dentists, particularly in cases like yours.

You were absolutely, totally right to report this dentist to the board. He is at best incompetent and out of his depth, at worst a straight up con artist, and he is putting patients at risk. You did the responsible thing there. Occasionally with a terrible dentist like that it will even be another dentist who pulls the trigger and reports them.

That's very, very different to a case where a patient makes a report unfairly or maliciously.

Generally in a local area, the other dentists will know who the dodgy dentists are, I suspect that he will be known to them. It's very unlikely they would ever say it out loud, but many of them would know what he's like. This means that there will be dentists out there somewhere who absolutely think you did the right thing and as a result would want to help you, not turn you away.

They're not all the same, I promise. I really hope that someday, when you feel ready, you'll find the right dentist for you. You deserve so much better.

Click to expand...

Yes I have encountered it by 4 or 5 different offices that refused to see me or help me or even let me come in for their opinion. they all said if you are not happy with the work go back where you had it done.

It was the dentist who I saw for the second opinion that told me to report it. If I had known that no good would come of it and it would make it harder to get help I probably would not have bothered,
The peer review committee is made up of local dentists. they all know each other and the "impartial mediator" was not very impartial when he told me that doctor psycho was an "excellent dentist"
I reported it because I thought that he was going to cut the bridge off for me after a peer review. I was not told that a peer review would drag on for over a year.

Mid June 2016 I set up my appointment to get the zirconia bridge placed.

I was very scared, because he had not been able to get me numb before. He seemed to think it was a problem with me, even though no other dentist ever had a problem getting me numb.

I had expressed concern that it may be a bad time to do it, since we were going on vacation the first week of July. I did not want a repeat of last years miserable vacation. I was not even afraid the bridge would be a bad fit because that would be impossible wouldn't it? 3 bridges to not fit? I was more afraid that my tooth was going to die from the trauma. that was a very real possibility after having been worked on so many times. I did not want to spend my vacation in the agony of needing a root canal, and if I did end up needing a root canal I sure was not going to let this dentist do it if he could not get me numb! I had already decided that he was not going to be "my dentist" I was already never going to see him again after the bridge because if I ever needed work done it was going to be done by someone who could get me numb and not blame me for it.

The office manager convinced me it was best to just get it over with and then enjoy my vacation with no appointments hanging over my head. She also told me to make sure I was able to pay the 1200 that day.

I set up my appointment and again my husband lost a days pay.

The day before my appointment I decided it did not matter of the bridge came loose since they were going to replace it the next day, and so I did the forbidden thing... I flossed. I had been told not to but my gums were still so sore and raw and irritated and I thought it may help to clean properly.
When I flossed a piece of cottony thread came out. It was a piece of retraction cord that he had left under my gums all that time ever since the impressions were done.

when I got to my appointment he was going to hear about it!

They took me in and got me in the chair.
I told him about the cord and he did not believe me. "what color was it" he asked, and I told him and I could tell by his face he knew I was right. but all he said was don't worry we are not using any cord today.
The dentist gave me a shot and again I got that one numb spot in my cheek and nowhere else.
He had the hygienist come in and give me a shot. After a while my lip started to tingle but it did not get totally numb. I told him so and he started giving me those very painful shots from last time, right in my gums near the tooth root. Those shots did nothing for me other than hurt a lot. I have since looked them up and it is a field block and it is NOT recommended for lower molars because it doesn't really work well there.

I remember telling the assistant I was probably going to cry when this was over, either way. If it fits I will cry tears of relief. If it doesn't fit I am going to be devastated that I have gone through this again for nothing.

He got the temp bridge off quickly but immediately my exposed tooth was excruciatingly sensitive to the air and to the cold spray because I was not numb all the way. when he began to use the drill to clean cement off my tooth I literally screamed from the pain. he then switched to the scraping tool which was less painful.

He set the bridge on, and big shocker when I bit down it was too high. just like the temp. He took it off me and ground it down some and then tried it again and it was better.

when he seated the bridge it was very painful because the bonding agent they use is cold and acidic and I was not numb enough. I must have made a face because the assistant said "I know the taste is awful" but it was not the taste it was the pain. I was shaking and tears were rolling down my face.

He cured it with a light because this was not cement it was a bonding agent.
it was on and it was set and he was cleaning it off, and immediately I knew my horrid cold sensitivity was back.
He checked my bite and it was off. more grinding it down and more painful cold water spray and more checking with paper and more grinding it down and at last he said it was done. I had been there 2 hours by now and was anxious to leave but I asked him to check my bite one last time because I said I really do not want to come back here later today. "Oh you don't have to come back today" says the assistant. If I get home and I can't eat I am not waiting days like this to come back I said.
It seemed like now that the bridge was on they had all lost their friendly demeanor.
He did check again and let me sit up this time, and he did find a high spot.

Then I was made to go to the office and pay. they would not even bill my insurance first and then bill me the rest. I had to pay right then so I did

when I got home I was not numb at all because I had not been that numb to begin with. so I tried to eat... and I could not chew on the bridge. The pontic and the wing were both too high. and even though he had agreed with the second opinion dentist that my tooth had been underprepared, he had not done anything additionally to prepare it because zirconia can be made thinner than porcelain fused to metal and he thought it would be a good fit as is.

I had to go back.

He was not happy to see me. His friendly demeanor was gone. He was rude and said no wonder doctor psycho had such a hard time with me, my bite was too specific and very hard to work with. Then he tried to blame my high canines, lifting his arms up in the air by his mouth much like elephant tusks and telling me it is because my teeth slide because they are like this.

well no, sorry but they don't. yes I have high canines, but all of my molars and premolars fit together perfectly, and do not slide at all, in fact it is difficult for me to even make the exaggerated jaw movements you want me to make because they do not slide, although the cusp of my top premolar no longer fits into my lower premolar because you have entirely filled it in with a wing and left no place for my premolar to fit.
He found several high spots and ground them down. and left angry and insulted and with it still not fitting correctly.
But I was in no rush to return after being treated badly and my husband was not going to be able to get more time off work without getting in trouble and so I tried for a few days to get used to it. but of course that was not possible.

I spent a few days trying to get used to the high bite on the bridge. I was able to chew on the other side with no problems. I was able to chew soft food on the bridge if I did not quite bite all the way through the food if that makes sense. That's the best I can explain it. My tooth under the crown was sore and sensitive to cold but not the same excruciating severe sensitivity to even room temperature like I had been with the metal bridge. I was able to chew on the crowned tooth part of the bridge but the wing in my premolar and the false tooth was still high. I had of course been told to "use sensodyne" which was pretty sad because when I had come home in the temp bridge and had no sensitivity at all I threw away 60 -$70 worth of anti- sensitivity products. not that they worked anyway.. My gums were still very sore all around the crowned tooth, and it seemed like the crown and false tooth sort of bulged out too far towards my tongue. They were just "fatter" than my own teeth had been. It was bothersome. When I would floss though it seemed that the margins were good. Floss only went where it was supposed to and did not slide way under.

I made an appointment to go back.

Meanwhile at some point after I paid for the bridge I got a letter from the Dental Association. Dr Psycho was willing to reimburse my insurance company what they had paid.. but he was not willing to reimburse me what I paid. This was utterly useless to me. Had he offered that at any point before I paid to have his bridge off and this new one put on it would have helped me, if he had reimbursed my insurance than my insurance would have paid on the fake tooth and I would have only had to pay something like 600 instead of 1200. But since I had already paid, it would do nothing for me if he reimbursed them and I would still be out all that money. Plus it pissed me off that he took a year, plus it pissed me off that he was actually talking about my dental details to strangers online giving out my info and lying about me.

I wrote a letter back to the dental association refusing this offer and asking for the peer review that I had requested a YEAR ago to get started. I asked that he not be allowed to keep any profit he got from my pain.I also printed out a copy of the screen shots that had been sent to me that showed him giving out my personal info and enclosed it. stating that this unethical and unprofessional behavior needed to be stopped.

Then it was my appointment day. I was able to get a late afternoon appointment so my husband got out of work early instead of having to miss an entire day.

Again the dentist is not happy to see me. I try to show him exactly where the high spot is, because I know exactly where it is. but he says if he doesn't see it on the paper he can't do anything about it. He checks, and he sees and it is mostly the wing just as I said.

He takes a bit off the wing, and then while my mouth is still open, and while the drill is still there, and while I am unable to do anything to stop him, to my shock and my horror and my dismay.. even though the first time I saw him I specifically said I need a dentist who will not do things to me without my permission and even though he promised me that he would never.........
He began grinding enamel off my perfectly good top teeth to try to force them to fit this too high lower bridge.
He basically flattened off the cusps of my upper first molar and premolar. and I could not stop him.
When I was able to speak I asked what in the hell he did that for and he said it was just a little bit and would not matter and that he could not keep grinding down the bridge.
I was very angry and very upset, and when I got home and saw it I was even more upset because it was not just a little it totally made my teeth flat. I also now had some cold sensitivity in those upper teeth.

I was so upset I didn't even try to eat that night.

The next day was the first time I tried to eat since this "adjustment".
I was eating a grilled cheese sandwich, and I was able to chew on the bridge. It felt not perfect but better. and then when I was a little more than halfway done my sandwich I heard a horrible CRACK noise that sounded like glass breaking. It was my bridge. The wing had cracked. I had this bridge for 8 days when it cracked. So now here I was, with perfectly good teeth shaved down and forced to fit a too high bridge that I was going to lose anyway.

I was terrified when I heard that crack. I had a mouthful of food and did not know for a minute if my tooth broke or the bridge broke. I just kind of froze there stunned. Then I had to spit the food out because I didn't dare chew it. I rinsed out my mouth and was afraid there would be pain but there wasn't. I brushed my teeth and didn't feel anything broken. I had to look in the magnifying mirror to even see it, as my vision is not great. But there it was, a crack on the wing of the bridge.

I called the dentist right away. They would not let me come in that day, they were closing early. They were also going to be closing for a week to go on a 2 week vacation. They let me speak to the actual dentist on the phone which was surprising, he had never been willing to take calls before.

He told me that zirconia absolutely had to be a certain minimum thickness or it would not be strong enough to chew on. He said that is why it cracked a day after the last bite adjustment. He said it had been made too thin. He told me to come in Monday for him to look at it. This was a Thursday so I was scared of the long wait but he said he did not think it would fall off or get worse. He said he did not think it could be repaired but if necessary he would make me a new one.
I was just stunned. A new one? a 4TH bridge in less than a year? And we were getting ready to go on my husband's vacation too. I was going on vacation with a cracked bridge? I was very upset and depressed and afraid.

That Monday when I saw him he looked at it and said yes the wing is cracked. He blamed me and my teeth and my bite. He was insulting and he was rude. He had my 1200 bucks now and his friendly demeanor had disappeared as soon as he got it.
He said I had 2 options. He said he would make me a porcelain fused to metal bridge, after I had already paid the higher price for zirconia! Or he would further grind more enamel off my top teeth to fit a lower bridge, which I had never given him permission to do in the first place and which I was still upset and suffering sensitivity over and which I in no way wanted to drag more healthy teeth into this horrible bridge catastrophe since I had already lost one tooth and was on the verge of losing another over work that had been done badly.
I refused both of his options. and I left.

The tooth was sore and aching. The bridge was unstable. I could not chew on it. My gums were raw and sore, and that is how I spent my vacation. a miserable and uncomfortable week.

When we got home from vacation in July 2016 the dentist office called me and wanted to know how I was doing. How did they think I was doing? I was in this cracked bridge that I paid a lot of money for and I was in pain and I was not interested in going through a porcelain fused to metal bridge after such horrid experiences.
She said the dentist wanted me to come in and talk about it. We had already talked about it and I was not letting him grind more enamel off more teeth which had nothing to do with a bridge.

I went in anyway. I don't even know why. I showed him my raw and sore gums and he did not seem to know what the problem was. He was already having me a new zirconia bridge made from the same impressions he had used to make this crack bridge which was too high.
He said in order for it to fit better he had taken my impression and cut out more of my premolar. this would have them make the wing thicker. he would then after taking this bridge off me have to cut further into my premolar so the bridge wing would fit, and then he would be able to grind down the wing to the point that it would fit my bite but still be thick enough to chew on. He was so sure this was going to work. I expressed concern at his inability to get me numb and that I would not be able to stand the pain of going through this. He assured me he would get me numb and the hygienist would also give me shots if needed.

I should never have agreed but the appointment was set up and I went to it.

I arranged for my husband to get out of work early because I already just knew I would end up needing to go back and get a bite adjustment.
So that he would not lose a full days pay I arranged for my MIL to take me to the appointment to get the bridge cut off and the new one put on.

It turned out to be the most horrid of all my appointments. It was 2 and a half horrific hours, mainly because he kept leaving me alone to work on other patients.
He cut, drilled, chipped, hit, tapped, pried, and pulled at the bridge. I knew it was going very badly from comments the dentist was making. He kept saying things like cutting off a porcelain fused to metal was a cake walk compared to this. That new dentists just starting out were going to be in for a big shock some day when they ever have to replace a zirconia restoration. I got the feeling he had never done this before. It was horrible and I was not numb enough. At one point, for the first time in my life, for the first time out of all these appointments, I put up my hand.. the universal sign for STOP. because I could not stand this agony. He didn't stop, he kept going. so I literally put up my whole arm and waved my hand around like a mad woman. "what is it" he said in an irritated tone. And I told him I needed another shot. I told him I could not stand the pain.He told me "another shot is not going to do anything" and he would not give me one. He said "Just give me 10 more seconds it's almost off" and he went back to yanking and chipping and pulling. The pain was horrendous.
I am not a big whiney baby. I have given birth. I have gone 26 hours in labor with nothing for the pain. I have had a broken finger that I never even saw a doctor for because I did not want anyone to know that my abusive boyfriend broke it. I have lived 3 months with a fractured tooth while nobody would give me anything for the pain. I know pain. this was unbearable. and it was unnecessary pain.
When he finally told me it was off I was so relieved. But then he did not seem happy about it and I knew something was wrong.
He said he wanted to take an xray first with the new bridge on before he cemented it. He tried to put it on me but something was wrong. It was rocking badly.
He left the room and then came back and held up a piece of my broken bridge. "well I have bad news" he says. "your tooth broke" and he holds up a chipped piece of bridge "see this? from the cement down? that's your tooth"
and right away to cover his ass the assistant pipes up "oh do you think it was already cracked and that's why she had cold sensitivity"
YEAH RIGHT. Yeah, cold sensitivity that only occurred in a permanent bridge but never in a temp. "your tooth broke" not "I broke your tooth off with all this chipping and hitting it with a chisel" not "Im sorry" nothing. just your tooth broke.

and so now my new bridge was not going to fit, and I did not want to try to use a broken tooth to support a bridge anyway, when I did not even know if my tooth would survive. He tried to talk me into going through impressions again and I said no, just fill my premolar and crown my tooth. if it lives it lives and if it died I will get it extracted. I am done. and I am not going through goopy impressions we are doing digital impressions and a single visit crown.

Keeping in mind that is what I asked him for in the first place, before he ever broke my tooth I asked him to cut off my bridge and just crown the tooth. but he told me that was not possible, that you could not do digital impressions for a molar and you could not do a ceramic crown. now suddenly he said "of course that is your right. before it was impossible, because he wanted my money for the bridge. now that he had already been paid of course it was possible.

He left me alone again and I texted my husband to not bother getting out of work early, because I didn't get the bridge, and this jerk broke my tooth.


He came back and filled in my premolar and then left me alone to tend other patients again.
Eventually he came back, and too cheap and rushed to make me a temp crown he took my temp bridge that he had saved and cut the crown off it and used that. "how does that feel ok? he says. even though it was ridiculously high because his assistant relined it wrong.
he said we should wait a couple weeks to see if my tooth lived before crowning it. then he left me to go to the next cubicle with another patient.
I of course was shaking and crying and shocked that another perfectly healthy and functional tooth was broken by a dentist. I did not know how much more agony I was going to be in when this pitiful amount of slight numbness wore off. The assistant put her hand on my shoulder, I thought as if to comfort me because I was crying. but she says to me "I hope you know he is heartbroken over this"
Really? I said with disgust. I can't worry about his heart today. I didn't break his heart he broke my tooth. I could already hear him laughing and joking in the next cubicle. He didn't care. He never apologized.
I had been through this horrid procedure 3 times, spent countless hours in a dentist chair, all for nothing but to be left poorer and worse off than before I started. Instead of replacing a single tooth lost to one botched procedure I now had another broken tooth and a bridge was no longer even an option.

What is a MIL?

Scarlett88 said:

What is a MIL?

Click to expand...

A Mother-In-Law

So.. I came out of the office with my newly broken tooth, not really knowing how badly it was broken or what was going to happen to me. At this point he had led me to believe it was not a bad break. I mean he actually still wanted me to get impressions and go through with having a 5TH bridge made...
MIL said she was just about getting ready to come in and ask them what the hell they were doing to me, I had been in there 2 and a half hours. I told her they broke my tooth and she was shocked and angry. I know I said.. It's unbelievable. If this had not happened to me I wouldn't even believe it.

By the time I got home the little bit of numbness in my cheek had worn off. I brushed my teeth because they always leave me covered in bits of blue articulating paper. The cold water did not hurt. Starting to sense a pattern here. Things seem to turn out the opposite for me from what I am told to expect. You are supposed to have mild sensitivity when you are in a temp, and it is supposed to go away when you get your permanent. For me it is the opposite. I feel fine in a temp no matter how bad it fits. I have instant and excruciating cold sensitivity in a permanent. not that any permanent has ever fit me properly, but my cold sensitivity is not from the bite being off or the fit being off or from the tooth being hit too hard, because my cold sensitivity is instant and immediate the second you put me in a permanent, and it is relieved instantly the second you put me in a temp. There is something in that permanent cement that my tooth is sensitive to and it never goes away. I had asked the dentist about this before, because I have been in 5 temps by now plus 3 bridges. I asked if there was not some sort of desensitizer that could be used before the permanent gets bonded on and I was told there wasn't. (that is not true)

I made myself a cup of coffee and there was no heat sensitivity.
It was a full week before I tried to chew on that tooth. I was too afraid, partly because I did not know how bad the break was, and also because being in a temp. I did not want my temp to come off and I knew it was a "used" temp besides because he cut it off my temp bridge that I had already used for 2 weeks. When I finally did try to chew on it, it was only very soft food. It did not hurt to chew soft food, so I thought my tooth was surviving this procedure.

Around this time I am starting to get an ache in my jaw on the other side. my "good" side where I have been only chewing for 2 years. It starts behind my ear and goes through my jaw and even into my check bone. I do not know the cause. It comes and goes. Sometimes it feels like my "good" molar hurts, but mostly the pain is in my face. I do not know if this is a bad tooth from all the extra wear and tear of only having chewed on that side for 2 years or if I have developed some sort of tmj disorder. or if it is because I have been worked on so many times and my bite is so off from all these procedures and having enamel ground off teeth that should never have been touched. My bite has been off for 2 years. Or if it's as simple as muscle pain from constantly having my mouth stretched open sitting in a dentist chair for hours at a time getting more work done in a short period than most people have in their life time, or if it's from getting impressions done 3 times in a year, because this is the tooth that hurt the most when he struggled to get the impression tray out of my mouth. I just don't know.. but I was certainly not going to go to this dentist over it. But when it got to be 2 weeks that I had no throbbing ache in my broken tooth under the temp crown I made an appointment to go get the permanent put on the beginning of August 2016.

Also around that time, much to my surprise I got a call from a different dentist from the peer review committee who made me tell him the ENTIRE story again and told me my case was under review.

August 2016 I went to my appointment for the single visit permanent crown. and this time there was just dread, and fear. I was not hopeful as in previous appointments that were meant to replace my missing tooth. Here I was with another broken tooth at the clumsy hands of another dentist. Here I was, worse off than before I ever let any of them work on me. I used to try to get myself through appointments by imagining the results afterwards. I would try to replace my fear with images of myself relaxing at home when it was over, being glad that I had gone, with everything having turned out well.

I was no longer able to do that. afterwards there had never been positive results. afterwards I had always been left worse off. I was not one of those people who could celebrate having made it through an appointment. I was not one of those people who could say my fear of the appointment was worse than anything that happened to me or that it was not as bad as I feared. Instead I could say that my appointments far exceeded my worst nightmares. That all of my fears came true, and worse. I had never had a fear of being worked on without getting numb. Now I have that fear because it is a reality for me. I had never had a fear that if I asked a dentist to stop they would keep going and not care that they were hurting me.. but I had that fear now because it happened to me.

At my appointment I again asked about something for sensitivity before placing the permanent crown. I told him that I knew for a fact such desensitizers exist. I told him that no matter how many times he tries to tell me my sensitivity in a permanent is due to my bite being off the fact remains that I am sensitive the second it goes on and the sensitivity goes away the second I am put in a temp, so pardon me for not being an expert and not having gone to dental school but it is very obvious after 3 permanents and 5 temporaries that the cause of my sensitivity is in the permanent cements and bonding agents. I told him that it seemed to me that my tooth had a remarkablele will to live, considering all the trauma it had been through and not died. I said even now with my broken tooth under this crown I have no sensitivity and I am not looking forward to having the sensitivity come back when you place the permanent. I said it seems ridiculous to have to get a root canal over it when the tooth is not dying or infected and I have no intention of ever going through another root canal anyway.

This time he did not try to tell me there was no such thing as a desensitizer. this time he said I was right and in reality there are desensitizers he just does not have any, he does not use them. He was going to "send out to the dentist down the street for a desensitizer"
I wished he would have sent me to the dentist down the street instead, maybe he could have got me numb.

I was again out through painful shots that only numbed my cheek instead of my tooth. The hygienist gave me a couple of shots too, which at least helped slightly but it was just not enough.
It was painful when my temp was removed and my broken tooth exposed to cold and air.

At this point I was quite shocked when he said he had to "xray the tooth first to see if it is broken all the way to your jaw"
Because he had led me to believe only a small piece of my tooth broke off. that was not true at all, a large portion of the tooth broke off when he tapped and hit and chipped away at that bridge. at least to the gum line. after the xray he said he "didn't think" it was broken to my jaw.

again my appointment was 2 hours long because he kept leaving me alone to work on other patients. I was in the room with the computer where you can see the time ticking down to how long it will take your crown to finish milling. It took 12 minutes for the crown to be made but I was still alone in that room more than a half hour after it finished.before he came back with the crown. an annoying assistant came in and out a few times. She tried to make me lay down in the chair while I was waiting. NO THANK YOU. She tried to cover me with a blanket NO THANK YOU I am already sweating with fear I do not need to be made hotter or tangled and trapped in a blanket. Would you like a magazine she asked. why is he really going to just leave me sitting here much longer? I asked. Is there anything I can do for you she asked? can you put me in a time machine back to before I can in here and he broke my perfectly good tooth? I asked. ha ha she laughed yes and give you perfect straight white teeth too? so funny, thanks for the insult. yes I know my teeth are not Hollywood perfect but they functioned and I had no pain and did not deserve to get them broken by clumsy dentists who are n a rush to cram in as many patients and their pocketbooks as possible.

Finally he came in. he used a desensitizer with a brush and scrubbed it all over my tooth. even that hurt because it was cold. Then he used a bonding agent to set my crown. and adjusted my bite..and it was over. I was never going back there again.

I got home and looked at my crown in the mirror. It looked like a marshmallow. just a blob, no actual tooth shape. and as an extra added bonus there were little bristles sticking out from under it. He had got bristles from the brush he used with the desensitizer in the cement under my crown.

I brushed my teeth and discovered the desensitizer didn't work. my cold sensitivity was back.

august 2016

a few days after getting this horrible crown that looked like a marshmallow with bristles sticking out of it, and that gave me horrible cold sensitivity, and that ached on and off, I also still had on and off pain on the other side. I still didn't know if a molar on my "good side" was not good anymore or if it was a jaw problem from only chewing on that side for 2 years. I did know one thing, and that is that it was wrong to charge me 1200 bucks for a bridge when what I received was a broken tooth a sloppy filling and a cheap crown.

I called the office and asked was I going to be getting any type of partial refund considering I paid a lot of money for a bridge that I am not getting, and which is no longer a option and that a crown would have cost me 300 not 1200. She said no.. they don't "do refunds" and that the dentist "worked very hard on it"

So yeah, he was supposedly "heart broken" after he broke my tooth, but not heart broken enough that he was willing to charge me for crappy crown instead of a bridge that I can never have now.

I'm going to stop here because I am having a horrible time trying to get posts to go through today.

My pain did not get any better. Sleeping did not get any easier. It hurt my face to lay on my side. It now also hurt my face to lay on my “good side”
The cold sensitivity in my broken tooth was excruciating. It made me want to throw the tv out the window when the sensodyne commercials came on. It made me want to smack the whiney woman in the commercial who said “I just chewed on the other side for a whole month” a month? aww boo hoo. try 2 years.

My gums around the broken crowned tooth were so raw I did not even want to speak. When I would speak and I would feel the side of my tongue brush against my gums with each word I would say it was just unbearable. My “good side” was aching on and off and sometimes my second molar hurt to chew on. I had no hot or cold sensitivity in it and no swelling and no signs of infection but something was wrong. Actually for years I had some very small but visible cracks in this tooth that were spreading outwards from the amalgam filling and down my tooth. I am not one of those people who doesn’t know the difference between craze lines and cracks. These were tiny cracks, but I think the 3rd time the impression material got stuck in those cracks it may have made them a little bigger. That combined with only having chewed on that side for 2 years was just more wear and tear than that tooth was going to be able to handle. I no longer had a dentist but I know what a dentist would say to a tooth that is still alive and not dying or infected that has small cracks. They would say crown it. And there is no way I was starting the whole nightmare over. My broken tooth under the crown had been through 3 bridges 1 crown and 5 temps. none ever fit right, none ever felt like my tooth, all felt like somebody elses teeth in my mouth and always that cement they use for the permanent caused me excruciating sensitivity that even 9 months worth of desensitizing products didn’t work on. You can call me crazy but I had reached the point that I would rather just have an extraction than have any more costly and painful procedures done. So far it had been my experience that if you go to the dentist in no pain, they cause pain. When I went to the dentist in agony they made it worse. When I went to the dentist and asked for something for the pain they dismissed me. But in my experience when I went to the oral surgeon in pain he took the pain away. Not only that but he prescribed vicodin for afterwards which I didn’t even need because the pain from extraction was nothing like the pain I had been through from dentists working on me.
I knew what a dentist would say about my broken tooth under the crown too. They would say root canal it. But at what cost? How long would it last? A large chunk of tooth was gone so someday if it ever decayed under the crown I would likely lose it anyway since there was so little tooth structure left to work with. In my unfortunate experience crowns and root canals are not 100% guaranteed and when it does not help dentists kept my money anyway. The only thing guaranteed was leaving those teeth behind at an oral surgeons office. I knew 100% those teeth could never hurt me again if I got rid of them.

So call me crazy but in the middle of August 2016, a month after getting my tooth broken in a botched bridge appointment, 2 weeks after getting an ugly crown with bristles sticking out of it, I called the oral surgeons office and scheduled an appointment. Because he is a specialist and so booked up they said he could not see me until September 2 2016.
It was a long and frightening wait where I worried myself sick over it. What if he would not take out my teeth? what if he did take out my teeth and I still had jaw and face pain? and worst of all my new fear thanks to my “new” dentist... what if he could not get me numb? what if it was true that something is wrong with me? what if it was true that it was not the dentists poor technique at giving shots? what if I was unab;le to get numb and felt my teeth coming out? even though no other dentist in the history of EVER had been unable to get me numb, once that happens and once you get blamed for it, it is terrifying.
I spent the whole 2 weeks waiting for my appointment feeling sick with worry. feeling like when you are on an elevator and there is that brief minute when your stomach drops.. that sick feeling you get on the roller coaster when everything drops out from under you.. I felt that way the entire time.

To save time and to catch you up, this is a copy of the post I made on the support board the day I got home from the oral surgeon on Sept 2 2016

Just got home. still bleeding, but still alive. he took both the teeth, the one broken under the crown and the one bothering me on the other side. when he made me tell what happened I started to cry, and because I was upset he wanted to send me away! he wanted me to make an appointment to come back and do it under general anesthesia because he said in light of what I have been through and considering a tooth might break and make it take longer he would rather I would be put under and not be further traumatized. I totally freaked out and said I have already been worried sick for 2 weeks over coming to this appointment, I can't keep worrying myself sick over it. I was terrified you were going to tell me go have a root canal but now you tell me just come another day.
He relented I guess because he didn't want a sobbing woman refusing to leave. we did it with nitrous. I told him I was afraid I would not get numb because the last dentist couldn't get me numb at all. he said he didn't have trouble getting me last time and didn't expect to this time. and it took one shot each side and I was numb in under a minute. so that dentist who tried to make me think it is my fault that I can't get numb was just plain doing it wrong. It took him barely 30 seconds for each tooth.
so here I am with no molars bottom left and only one molar bottom right.
He gave me the name of a dentist that he says is very good, and I would call him in a couple months to ask about making me a partial.
I'm gonna go lay down now, fear is exhausting.
Thanks for being here for me.

So as you can imagine, eating after an extraction on each side during the healing phase has been challenge, and it is not easy to chew without molars, but I do not regret my decision, as I am now able to sleep on my side without my face hurting. I am able to hug my husband without telling him be careful not to bump my face, I am now able to kiss my husband without being in agony, I am now able to brush the teeth that I have without warming up the water first, I am now able to have any cold drink I want instead of cringing at anything below body temperature.

Yes eating is more difficult, but I would rather be where I am right now, where it basically is an annoyance 3 times a day at meal time, instead of having those teeth be a constant source of misery 24 hours a day, with not a moments peace. I am starting to get my life back. I am starting to get back to normal without thinking of teeth 24 hours a day.
I have no intention of getting implants, and I am still angry that I am now missing 3 teeth that I would likely not be missing if the first dentist had not fractured my first molar. I am still waiting to hear something from the peer review concerning my refund for all the botched work I had done. I have not had the energy to report the dentist who kept my money for the bridge and broke my tooth. I will see what if anything ever happens with the first complaint I filed. I also asked a lawyer to look into it but have not heard back from them either.

I have an appointment coming up for a cleaning and exam with a dentist who the oral surgeon suggested to me. I will ask him about a partial denture at that time, and I will also tell him not to try to bully me into implants because I do not want to hear about them. I will also tell him if you do not think you can help me with a partial then please do not work on me at all.

I still have nightmares over what I have been through. I still scream in my sleep if I accidentally fall asleep on my back. On my back I am transported to the dentist chair and they are doing things to me without my permission. There are many nights my husband wakes me because I am calling out to him in my sleep to help me. It’s still affecting our lives in that way. It is also still a shock to me when I brush my teeth, to look in my mouth and see those big empty spaces where teeth used to be. But I am getting used to it.

I still have occasional pain that I think is from my bite being off. The messy filling that dentist put into my premolar where the notch was cut out for the bridge is too high. My teeth above it are shortened and flat due to him unnecessarily grinding them down to fit a bridge I don’t have. Having teeth shortened on one side screws up the other side as well.
But I am not in agony and I am not going to let anyone talk me into any $50,000 smile makeover or mouth reconstruction.

What I hope you take from my experience is that you have rights.
If you are not comfortable with something you have a right to say no
Not all dentists are created equal.
Just because they have a license to practice does not mean they are particularly good. Research your dentist. read reviews, check with friends and family members. when getting a recommendation make sure it is from someone who actually had work done. I thought my dentist was wonderful those 10 years that I saw him.. but that was only because he never worked on me.
Dental malpractice is not as uncommon as people think. It does occur. Dentistry is not as regulated as medical procedures.
Some dentists are excellent... some dentists will do what is best for them instead of what is best for you.
Be an informed patient and an informed consumer.
Do not put up with being insulted or ridiculed or berated in the dentist chair.
Do not be bullied into procedures that you don’t want to have.
Do not think it is your fault that a dentist lacks the technique to get you numb.

I do not know if my story will have a happy ending. I hope it will, but it is still ongoing.
I will update when there is any news, and after I meet my “new dentist”