J
J.Feng
Junior member
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2013
- Messages
- 3
- Location
- NJ
In terrible need of advice/direction:
I have had a long battle with the lower right molar #31 for a long time and I am at the point I do not know what to do anymore, where to go to or who I can trust.
I am 24 and apparently the dentist I had for the first 22 years made a big mess out of my teeth. Granted being a foolish teenager and not taking care of my teeth while I had braces started the mess, the problems have continued long after. Our family went to this dentist because he charged very low prices.
I first had a root canal on this tooth about 8 years ago. The gum around it would occasionally get swollen and infected and my dentist continued to claim for years that it was due to a reaction from my wisdom teeth being pulled out. That perhaps there was a fragment or two left behind. I finally changed dentists about 3 years ago to a dentist that I felt much more comfortable with. About a year and a half ago, my dentist noticed an infection around the molar and when I said it had been occurring for many years now, he told me it was because the root canal was not done properly and it was an ill-fitting crown. I was sent to a root canal specialist to get it redone. Because I was leaving the country and moving to Malaysia very soon for a year, the specialist drilled into the crown, performed the surgery and sent me back to my dentist to fill the hole. My dentist suggested that when I came back I should have a gold post put in and a permanent crown, a procedure that would cost around 5,000. A little over 4 months ago while still being abroad, the crown cracked and I went to a dentist my boss referred me to. He took an x-ray and said that there was a chance my root canal wasn't done properly AGAIN. I am of Chinese descent and he said I may have a C-shaped canal(which is common in Asians) and that many do not know how to treat those or sometimes to even look for them. The x-ray showed one side of the root to have been cleared out while the other stopped short. He also said that there was decay under the crown because maybe apparently the root canal specialist had just done the root canal and left the rest to be done by my dentist so they could both earn money? Perhaps my dentist forgot the space and just filled in the crown or thought that it would be fine for a year? Either way, it's made me lose some of the trust I had in this dentist. The Malaysian dentist said that because my original dentist had taken so much of the original tooth that in order to get the next crown I would have to get crown lengthening surgery.
Since cracking my crown this morning, I've spent the entire day researching dentists, dental clinics, dental schools, dental insurance and I've read forum after forum on different opinions on crown lengthening vs. extraction. The dentist in Malaysia said that the plus side about dental schools is that although it would be a student working on your teeth, they wouldn't be focused on gaining your business and a teacher would be there to look after them. That idea worries me, but at this point nothing feels comfortable. I've even looked into flights to Malaysia because at this point the only dentist I trust is there and the cost of flights would be hopefully balanced out buy the cost of procedures there vs. here.
I haven't had an income for the past 2 years since I graduated college because my year abroad was a fellowship teaching English. So to say I'm on a tight budget is an understatement, but even if I weren't, I don't know whom to go to for advice, what to do with my situation, where to go to get this all done, etc. At this point I've lost trust in all dentists(no offense to the ones reading this) and just don't know what to do. Any advice would be really appreciated.
I have had a long battle with the lower right molar #31 for a long time and I am at the point I do not know what to do anymore, where to go to or who I can trust.
I am 24 and apparently the dentist I had for the first 22 years made a big mess out of my teeth. Granted being a foolish teenager and not taking care of my teeth while I had braces started the mess, the problems have continued long after. Our family went to this dentist because he charged very low prices.
I first had a root canal on this tooth about 8 years ago. The gum around it would occasionally get swollen and infected and my dentist continued to claim for years that it was due to a reaction from my wisdom teeth being pulled out. That perhaps there was a fragment or two left behind. I finally changed dentists about 3 years ago to a dentist that I felt much more comfortable with. About a year and a half ago, my dentist noticed an infection around the molar and when I said it had been occurring for many years now, he told me it was because the root canal was not done properly and it was an ill-fitting crown. I was sent to a root canal specialist to get it redone. Because I was leaving the country and moving to Malaysia very soon for a year, the specialist drilled into the crown, performed the surgery and sent me back to my dentist to fill the hole. My dentist suggested that when I came back I should have a gold post put in and a permanent crown, a procedure that would cost around 5,000. A little over 4 months ago while still being abroad, the crown cracked and I went to a dentist my boss referred me to. He took an x-ray and said that there was a chance my root canal wasn't done properly AGAIN. I am of Chinese descent and he said I may have a C-shaped canal(which is common in Asians) and that many do not know how to treat those or sometimes to even look for them. The x-ray showed one side of the root to have been cleared out while the other stopped short. He also said that there was decay under the crown because maybe apparently the root canal specialist had just done the root canal and left the rest to be done by my dentist so they could both earn money? Perhaps my dentist forgot the space and just filled in the crown or thought that it would be fine for a year? Either way, it's made me lose some of the trust I had in this dentist. The Malaysian dentist said that because my original dentist had taken so much of the original tooth that in order to get the next crown I would have to get crown lengthening surgery.
Since cracking my crown this morning, I've spent the entire day researching dentists, dental clinics, dental schools, dental insurance and I've read forum after forum on different opinions on crown lengthening vs. extraction. The dentist in Malaysia said that the plus side about dental schools is that although it would be a student working on your teeth, they wouldn't be focused on gaining your business and a teacher would be there to look after them. That idea worries me, but at this point nothing feels comfortable. I've even looked into flights to Malaysia because at this point the only dentist I trust is there and the cost of flights would be hopefully balanced out buy the cost of procedures there vs. here.
I haven't had an income for the past 2 years since I graduated college because my year abroad was a fellowship teaching English. So to say I'm on a tight budget is an understatement, but even if I weren't, I don't know whom to go to for advice, what to do with my situation, where to go to get this all done, etc. At this point I've lost trust in all dentists(no offense to the ones reading this) and just don't know what to do. Any advice would be really appreciated.
