• Dental Phobia Support

    Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.

    Register now to access all the features of the forum.

Can a dentist refuse you treament?

J

JOHNMBM

Junior member
Joined
Feb 29, 2016
Messages
2
Hi there I got a hole in my upper right wisdom tooth specifically on the side of it facing my cheek and it came in just fine and causes me no problems, however, I don't want to let any further damage occur and so I went to my dentist who ultimately refused to do the filling because "it'd be difficult to do" and "It's hard to clean back there" two answers I find to be unacceptable as I'm able to clean back there just fine and I know for a fact there are far more difficult and complicated procedures that are done daily. Upon reading the rights of a patient on the ADA website, on there I read that as a patient "You have the right to know what the dental team feels is the optimal treatment plan as well as the right to ask for alternative treatment options" so my question is does the dentist legally have to oblige with my request for a filling? or do I merely have the right to ask for it and no more? any insight would be appreciated as much as the breath I'm breathing as I write this as all other sources of information and answers have failed me horribly.
 
Since you reference the ADA, I assume you are in the US. I believe that, if a dentist does not believe it's the right course of treatment or does not believe it is within her/her abilities then s/he has the right to refuse. I'm assuming the course of treatment recommended is extraction as they dentist believes that decay is likely to continue to recur. Your option at this point would be to seek a second opinion. Sorry that this isn't the answer I'm guessing you were hoping for. Best of luck to you!
 
Thanks for that answer man Thats EXACTLY what iIwas looking for I appreciate the answer very much!!!
 
Dentists from what I've seen prefer to just pull out the wisdom teeth instead of trying to save them. They make a bit more money too from the procedure. Looking at my treatment plan a filling costs about $275 with no insurance, while pulling a wisdom tooth out is $330.

It's always okay to get a second opinion. If you don't want to tooth to come out and it's otherwise healthy besides a filling, then find a dentist that will do a filling.
 
I would disagree about the motivation to extract wisdom teeth being about money. I was told over and over to get mine out even though my dentist would have had to send me to an oral surgeon to have them out. I did eventually have them all extracted.
 
Back
Top