Dental care...should i fire my dentist?

[momz]

I'm looking for opinions. What would you do? My dentist (whom I've been seeing for 7 years) had been telling me for years that I needed to have some old fillings replaced. Well, I put it off for a long time because I wasn't having any problems with the teeth and also because of cost. Anyway last September, she finally talked me into replacing them. It turned into much more than fillings. Once she got in there, she determined that they would need to have 3/4 crowns (2 teeth, bottom molars one on each side). So she put some temporaries on and ordered the permanents. The temporaries broke several times while waiting on the permanents. By the time the permanents came in, the temporaries had broken so many times, that she finally just left the teeth bare until the permanents arrived. But, the same problems have been happening with the permanents. They keep breaking. I'm on my third crowns on BOTH teeth!!! One time I went in to have them replaced and "the lab sent 2 of the same crown" so they could only place one of them on that day, had to make another appointment for the other. Anyway, one of the crowns from the third set broke a couple of months ago and she "repaired" it with filling material but didnt' replace it. Now today, the other one broke, just a little bit off the edge of it. Since all this, I had decided to seek a new dentist. The problem however, is that she has not been charging me for all the work related to these broken crowns, hasn't charged me for replacing or repairing them (other than the first set). Now, I'm wondering what is the best course of action. Should I continue with this dentist until this matter is resolved, or should I throw in the towel and have a different dentist try to repair the damage? I really like her personally, but I'm questioning her judgement regarding whether this was the right thing to do in the first place. And now with all the problems with the crowns, what can be done to make my teeth right?

 

[Imzadi]

This is really hard to read in one long paragraph.

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[MK2thcleaner]

My guess is that your dentist has been using porcelain for the crowns on the molars. We've had some problems with a porcelain named Empress. We currently use Zirconia and have yet to have a fractured crown. My guess is that you either need zirconia or possibly a metal crown to keep this from happening again. Have you asked about this possibility? If it was my money, I'd be staying with dentist until she repaired the problem to my satisfaction. I don't think she's doing anything wrong. She's doing exactly what my boss has done for the patients with the same problem.

We also have had some problems with our lab lately. We've searched out a new one. I know it doesn't make the office look good if things like this keep happening, but sometimes it just isn't the offices fault. She sounds reputable and it sounds like you like her. I say just express your frustration with the whole process and find out other options.

Good Luck!

 

[bunny]

Could you have her replace it with a gold crown? I had a gold crown done last year and it still looks great. You can't even see it unless I open my mouth really wide. The reason I did it is because my dentist told me it would last a lot longer than a regular crown and it only costs 25% more. I hate having dental work done, so he sold me when he told me it would last longer.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I think you sould wait until it's repaired to your satisfaction, especially since she isn't charging you. A new dentist would charge you for the work since he/she didn't put the faulty crowns in. Perhaps she's just having a streak of really bad luck with your particular crowns. After everything is repaired and in working order, you can decide if you want to find a new dentist for future work.

I just had a crown break about a month ago. I had it for about 9 years and a piece broke off when I was eating popcorn. It was put in originally by my old dentist who retired. My current dentist took it off, did all the impressions and put on a temporary. Three weeks later, she tried putting on the new one. She said it wasn't fitting properly because the lab over-polished it on one side. It was leaving a big space next to my gum and she was afraid food would get trapped there and my gum would get infected. She took new impressions and sent the crown back. There was no charge to me. She put the old temporary back on and it's still there. I go back on Tuesday to get the new crown. I'm glad she was being picky about how it fit. I would rather she make sure it's done perfectly because I'm very particular about my teeth!

 

[S. C.]

This is really hard to read in one long paragraph.

Try inserting the return bar (Enter button) in places to skip a line.

Offtopic

the OP is asking advice about dental work.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

Could you have her replace it with a gold crown? I had a gold crown done last year and it still looks great. You can't even see it unless I open my mouth really wide. The reason I did it is because my dentist told me it would last a lot longer than a regular crown and it only costs 25% more. I hate having dental work done, so he sold me when he told me it would last longer.

Ditto, I had a gold crown put in last year for the same reason (my dentist said they last longer). It's in one of my back teeth and not visible.

 

[OceanAnnie]

I'm kind of surprised the dentist hasn't looked into a different material for the crowns. (You know, if you keep doing the same things, you'll get the same results type of deal.) If I were you, I'd suggest a different material. Something that has a history of being verrrryyyy durable.

I'd find out what costs are associated with all of this work and get it in writing. Stay through the repairs. Then I would probably would be looking for another dentist. The ongoing problems without a change in plans would be concerning to me.

 

[momz]

I appreciate all of your advice. I like my dentist in general. It's just that this experience has resulted in me questioning her original advice to re-do the fillings considering I wasn't having a problem with the teeth. But...I'll call her tomorrow and talk to her about perhaps using a different material for the crowns. I'm wondering if changing material will cost me? She's not charged me for replacing them so far, but she's been using the same material and the same lab. Oh well, even if there is a cost to switch it will be worth it in the long run...don't want to have them breaking all the time, plus they are molars, so cosmetically it doesn't matter so much.

To give her the benefit of the doubt, I'm sure that she didn't want to have this problem with the crowns either.

 

[OceanAnnie]

What was the reason the dentist gave for re-doing the fillings?

If you like her and have liked her work thus far, maybe all of this is a fluke. But I would be pondering using the same material over and over while getting the same bad results. Just my .02.

 

[dismom2]

I have had a similar experience, and I just let the same dentist finish the work because it woud have cost me too much to start over with a new dentist. If it wasn't for that reason, I would have probably went to a new dentist, but my coverage was used up already for the year.

 

[addicted2dizney]

Hi, Another Hygienist here.. sounds like your bite may be off a bit as well if you were chomping through both the temps and permanents. Perhaps the thickness of both the temps and permanents are off a bit due to the dentist not adjusting the occlusion, (top surface) enough to compensate for the size of the crown. This is just a possibility. Have you had any pain or jaw aches since they were placed?

Tough thing about those fillings that "should be replaced". I don't discredit the dr you went so since you have been going there for 7 years and now are replacing them. Some Dentists you walk in the door and they want to rip out your whole mouth and start from scratch. That's always a big red flag to get another opinion before proceeding. It's kind of a damed if you do or damed if you don't situation for the Dr. It's bad if they see something and don't make you change it up. However, they way you see it is that the tooth was, "fine" no pain, etc.. and then now you have all these problems. Never an easy situation for the Dr or patient but the goad for the Dr was to improve the situation in your mouth to avoid catastrophe. At least you did not require root canal and ultimately by replacing the filling your dr was able to avoid that for you.

 

[kaytieeldr]

This doesn't respond to the OP's specific questions, but more the general topic: the July issue of Readers' Digest includes an article of about 50 things dentists want us to know. I'm pretty sure at least one piece of advice is exactly what the PP says, about being leery of dentists who want to replace perfectly good fillings.

 

[gonzo76]

This is really hard to read in one long paragraph.

Try inserting the return bar (Enter button) in places to skip a line.

Why not post a suggestion about the question at hand?!?

I would stick with the dentist until the problem is fixed.

 

[addicted2dizney]

This doesn't respond to the OP's specific questions, but more the general topic: the July issue of Readers' Digest includes an article of about 50 things dentists want us to know. I'm pretty sure at least one piece of advice is exactly what the PP says, about being leery of dentists who want to replace perfectly good fillings.

Yes, this is very true, however what a patient may perceive as a "perfectly good filling" may actually be a nightmare when examined clinically! A patients perception of "perfectly good fillings" is on that is in tact and doesn't "hurt". The worst part about teeth is that usually once pain is involved there can be lots more work required to fix the tooth!

If the dentist has been leery of certain filling by noting shadows, cracks, etc.. for some time and has not overly pushed the topic then they are giving a good exam and letting their patient know of the problems.

There are dentists as I mentioned before that will want to rip out all of your fillings. Those are the dentists that the Readers Digest issue are talking about. Of course as with most journalism they give a generic statement and it throws people into a panic.

 

[Nie0214]

Why not post a suggestion about the question at hand?!?

Because it was hard to read? I had to highlight as I read.

@OP I don't think it would hurt to get another opinion from another Dentist.

 

[momz]

As to why the fillings were being replaced...They had been there for a really long time, I'm guessing at least 20 years. The dentist said there was space between the filling material and the wall (does that make sense?)

I'm going tomorrow to see the hygenist (cleaning time) and to have the dentist evaluate the crown. I'm going to ask at that time about using a more durable material.

I've not been having any pain through all of this. With the exception of when the crown breaks and the jagged part rubs on my tongue. But other than that, no pain. But I questioned the bite when the first set of permanent crowns were placed, she told me that the bite was fine and that it feels strange to me because the teeth had been bare for a couple of weeks and I was just not used to there being something that bulky there (the temporaries broke). After that, the crowns have been replaced 2 more times because of breaking. And now...here we go again.

I really didn't want to comment regarding the typing/spacing thing. But I guess if I appoligize then maybe we can let that issue go?

Thanks to everyone for their advice. Dental care (to me anyway) is like getting the car worked on. I'm ignorant of what truely needs done and am dependant on the advice of the professional. Bottom line...I want my teeth to last a lifetime.