OT - Any Dentists, or people who know the legalities of dentistry?

[Jenn D]

Ok, here's my problem. In July of this year, I had a root canal, post and core, and crown done to one of my molars. In November, my crown (porcelain over metal) fell out and had to be recemented. Now, again this morning, my crown fell out and got chomped. The porcelain on the outer rim has completely chipped off exposing the metal interior of the crown and I have placed every peice of it in a plastic bag. My concern is that I do NOT want to pay another $700 for something I shouldn't have to. I have another tooth (right next to this one) that had the SAME procedure done over 10 years ago and it has NEVER had any problems. This crown has only lasted me aboout 6 months. I talked to the dentists office and I need to come in for a consult with the dentist to determine if they will replace it for free (the crapola will hit the fan if they don't agree to do it for free). However, I have serious concerns about allowing this dentists to attemp this crown AGAIN. I'd truly prefer to have someone else do it. Does anyone know if I have any legal rights to have the work done at another dentists office and bill this current place? This is freakin' rediculous.



Thanks!

 

[Thomas Rogers]

I can't comment on the legalities, but make sure you don't have a misaligned bite issue. Maybe that one tooth with the crown is protruding too high and taking the brunt of the force of a bite. I had one of those, and two different dentists "let it go" though I complained of chronic pain...then one day the top broke off, and the dentist that fixed it said: "wow, let's grind that down some before we fix it".



TJR

 

[Frank Marano]

my dad owns a dentist office with two other dentist, let me give him a call and see what he says......

 

[Jenn D]

Tom - I'm going to bring up possibly night grinding issues. I too have heard that certain teeth take the brunt of grinding. I know for sure there isn't a misallignment issue. In fact, I considered myself quite lucky that my crown was comfortable from the get-go. I'm just frustrated that this guy doesn't seem to want to fix my problems for long term, but instead is just doing what's quick.



Fmarano - I'd truly appreciate it!!! Thanks!

 

[Frank Marano]

Jenn, my father said that the dentist should fix it for free and the lab that made that crown should make anothor one for free. It should last longer then 6 months. Just tell your dentist you were eating and it fell apart. If your dentist doesnt want to fix it for free, you should tell the dentist you are going to call the American Dental Society, report the dentist and get a lawyer ....... If it was a year or more my father said it would be shakey ground to ask for a free fix, but 6 months is too short.



On a side note. A dentist isnt going to let you go to anothor dentist and have the bill sent to him. That just doesnt work in the dental world.



hope it helps......

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Fmarano says:

On a side note. A dentist isnt going to let you go to anothor dentist and have the bill sent to him. That just doesnt work in the dental world.

Right, Fmaraon. Furthermore, that type of thing doesn't work in nearly any professional/services based industry and can't be used as a threat. Only in really tight-knit arrangements, say like franchises or other organizations (like Ford Certified Repair Centers) can that work, and even then, most often the originating party is most vested in solving your problem.



Think of it this way. If you owned a business would you pay for someone else to fix your mistakes or would you be better off fixing them yourself? Cheaper for you to, right? No obligation to pay for anyone else to, right?



TJR

 

[Jenn D]

Fmarano - First of all, thank you for your consideration in calling your father, and please thank you father for me as well. I truly appreciate you both taking a few moments to help me out. It means a lot.



I certainly hope this dentist just does what is right, but it is sad that I have to prepare for him to do what is wrong nowadays as well. As far as I am concerned, he does not need to know what I ate to make it fall out, or if I ate at all. That would only be pertinent information if he handed me a list of foods that I could not chew for the rest of my life - in that case, I would have just had it pulled. I just find great irony in the fact that this particular tooth is right next to a tooth with the same procedure that was done 10 years ago and it doesn't have as much as a chip. If I were truly doing/eating something wrong, I would assume the other (older) one would fail first.



Thanks again!

 

[Frank Marano]

My father said if he asks, tell him you were eat macaroni or something soft. In reality, you should be able to eat what you want. It just sounds like the crown was made poorly at the lab, so it is half the doctors fault and half the lab that made it.



My father also mentioned that they may have to pull the whole crown out, which is most likely cemented in, to fix it. Every case is different......and nothing can be certain without seeing it in person, but at leasy you have some sort of heads up knowledge going in.

 

[Jenn D]

Tom, I completely undestand why the dentist (or anyone) wouldn't want to pay for someone else to fix their problem. And I was not intending on using it as a threat. In fact, I truly plan on being understand until I need to be a b----. However, sadly, I no longer trust this dentist and that's a tough thing to get over. For a bit of history, this is the only tooth of mine this particular dentist has ever worked on. It took him 5 visits to get the root canal and post and core correct. Now it has taken him 3 visits (presumably) to get this crown correct. If your plumber fixed the same pipe under your sink several times now and it still leaks, would you want him to come fix it? Regardless, if it's a free fix, some people just have to bend over, take it and hope it holds this time. LOL I'd MUCH rather have the money to just go to a new guy and get a crown.



Maybe I should bill my best friend....afterall, she the one who hit me in the face (accidentally) 10 years ago with a fastpitch softball breaking/cracking these teeth. It was only a few weeks before we played the olympic team and I didn't have the time (or money) to get them all fixed. It was an accident though

 

[Jenn D]

Fmarano - the crown is completely out. I have it in a plastic bag along with the pieces the chipped off. The only thing in my mouth right now is the sad reminence of molar that has been grinded down to a nub. sigh..... I'm going to bring it to him as proof.



I told the dentist last time if fell out that is came out while eating mashed potatoes....but I like the mac and cheese idea more... :lol:

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Yup, Jenn, that's the difficulty you are in. I suggest you give this dentist one last try to fix it, THEN after a couple of weeks after the repair and all looks good, ask for your records and go to a new, recommended dentist.

 

[Frank Marano]

let me, or us know how you make out.......you may have to take a trip to upstate ny so my dad can fix it, LOL





:lol:

 

[Bill Ellis]

I have a front tooth crown that was done 25 years ago and it's as solid as the day it was put in. Crowns should last for a very long time if installed properly.

 

[Richard L]

Jenn,

I have a post/crown that the Army did in Vietnam in April of 1971. My dentist keep saying that I should have it replaced because it's long past it's life expectancy, but I say that it's been there for nearly 35 years and it will stay till it falls out :lol:



I've had temporary crowns that lasted over 4 years, so I would guess that a permanent crown should last at least that long.



A failure in only six months is an indication of poor workmanship on the lab that made the crown, or the dentist who installed it. If your bite is too tight, the dentist should take that into consideration and be able to grind down the high spots for clearance.



...Rich

 

[Paul Maurer 2]

As a doctor, I wouldn't pay for someone else to correct a problem related to my care. I would make every effort to fix it myself. I had a patient call the other day who I did LASIK on in 2000 and has since moved away, and now her reading eye needs an enhancement, which is common, expected and disclosed at the time of surgery. She wanted me to pay another Docs fee for the procedure and when my admistrator declined, she insisted the eye had never been right since my LASIK, despite several post-op visits showing 20/20 vision and glowing reports! Maybe I should offer Silver, Gold and Platinum extended warranties on my work for an extra fee!

 

[Shawn Hennessy]

Lasik1,



Perhaps you should suggest to her that she send you the faulty part (eye) and ship it at her expense. You'll repair the part and send it back free of charge.

 

[Wes Davis]

Dive Trac almost made me fall out of my chair. :lol:

 

[Michael Cacioppo]

It appears that the crown was made too loose. Possibly a bad impression. A permanantly cemented crown over a post should not come out that easily. The dentist needs to take a new impression and not use the old one over. A well fitting crown should stay in almost without cement. If it were night grinding that caused the problem, the crown would come loose first, before falling out in my opinion.



A good dentist would offere to replace it free without you having to compain. The lab, however, may not want to do the labor and materials over for free. If the crown was made to the dentist's impression correctly, then it was the dentist's fault and he should swallow the lab fee.

 

[Gypsy me]

I agree with everyone that said should have been replaced for free. The crown was not fitted correctly, like MikeC said.



My dentist put in a crown for me, *not realizing at the time* he hit a nerve, but having never had a crown before I just thought it was just normal discomfort, I delt with the pain for two weeks until I could not stand the pain any longer. *I'm pretty tough that way* Anywho, I went back he rechecked and re-xrayed everything, Says, "oh my goodness I'm sooo sorry, I hit a nerve, I am sooo sorry! I need to do a root canal!" There goes my new beautiful crown. But guess what, Because he made the mistake and even caused me pain, he didn't charge me a dime, not to mention how sorry he sincerely was.



My point is, that is ethics~ great ethic on the dentists part. He made the wrong, right.



So should your dentist and the company he used for the crown.

 

[Joe Averion]

Could be a few different reasons why your crown came off. I am not sure if this is the case with your crown but you may want to ask your dentist. It is not uncommon for *some* dentists to cement a premanent crown with temporary cement following a root canal treated tooth (specially if the crown was made very soon after the root canal). Reason for this is if they have to go back in and redo part or all of the root canal, they can access the tooth by easily removing the crown. Only option to retreat a root canal with a permanently cemented crown is to hope that the crown doesn't break when they try to tap it off or drill right through the middle of it then refill it with either composite material or amalgam and it would be a shame to do that to a new crown. Of course if this is what they did, 6 months is too long a time to leave a crown on with temporary cement. That and if the root canal wasn't a success, more than likely you would have already known about it in 6 months.



Other reason that it could be is that they didn't get the tooth completely clean and DRY when they cemented the crown on. Any contaminants present when they cement the crown on will weaken the bond of the cement they use. Another reason could be that maybe they didn't have enough cement in there to begin with. I know it sounds odd or funny or whatever but it does happen that the dentist's assistant may have not mixed up enough and instead of re-prepping the tooth for cementing and mixing up a new batch that they just try to spread out the little they got.



You already stated that you were in no pain with this crown after they cemented it in so that means that the bite on that crown wasn't high so that rules that out. What about the interproximals of it, how was that fit? Did you have any problems of food easily getting trapped in between this crown and the teeth adjacent to it? When you floss in between the crown and adjacent teeth, does the floss snap in? If you don't have a problem with food getting trapped in that area and the floss snaps in between as opposed to just sliding in with no contact with the adjacent teeth, then that means the crown is fitted right. The only other way the crown could not be fitted right is if the margins were off, and that they should have checked before cementing it in. If the margins weren't right and they cemented it in anyway, well all I can say is after this is fixed find another dentist.



In any case, your dentist should replace the crown for you at no charge seeing as how it is only 6 months old. As someone has stated already, if the lab made the crown according to the dentist's impressions they sent over then the lab may not remake the crown for free. In any case, the dentist should not charge you for that. Besides, if the lab didn't make the crown according to the dentist's impressions, then he/she SHOULD know that when they try to fit it in. The slightest variation from the impression could be told when they test fit it and check for margins.



Hope all works out for you.