What would you do if you couldn't afford to have your bad tooth fixed, so you relied on Medicaid which only pays for extractions, so you go to have your tooth extracted, and the doctor takes out the wrong tooth? He recognized his mistake midway through and said he had to take out both, and both are on the same side on top in the back so I can't chew anymore on that side. He was upset with himself, embarrassed, he said, that this was the first in a practice of 33 years to make a mistake, and that he would pay for me to get a "partial" which he said is a couple of false teeth that hook onto the remaining tooth. What would you say? Would you ask for some cash, too? For all the misery of having to go through all this when HD has made me so I can't roll with the punches as well and just do it. Would you talk to a lawyer? What would you do? Keeping in mind that I'm not up to big bad talk in courts and so on. Thanks.

Alice,

That is heartbreaking. I hope you get something worked out, I don't know what I'd do.

Take care
Carla

Alice i'm so sorry. Noooo, a partial is not the same as having your own teeth, and very difficult to adjust to and deal with. You tell him you need two implants. But i would also see a lawyer, absolutely for sure! With you having hd, he has caused unneeded stress, and your ability to chew food will be compromised as the disease progresses. Tell him a partial my butt, you want two implants. You can do it Alice!

Suing someone is about as pleasant as having teeth pulled, or repaired. Your lawyer will be dealing with an insurance company and they have 100 lawyers. And you still will need your teeth fixed. Sooooo I would probably let him correct the mistake.. and it was a totally sucky mistake. I don't think you would ever get to court with this.. it would probably get settled.. just pretty sure you can count on two years minimum before ya see a dime. If you see a dime. If you don't you are out two teeth and no money to fix them. Sometimes people make mistakes at your expense. I am sure it wasn't meant to be mean. Not sure getting mean back will help that much. Kinda up to you what you want to do with your time and how much emotional investment you are willing to make.

Sorry Alice.. that does totally suck.

Thanks for the replies. Barb, do you have a partial? What is wrong with them? I just looked up implants on wikipedia and saw that they reqire a lot of drilling and waiting around and possible trouble, etc. I could hardly deal with getting a root canal and a crown one time recently. I just don't have it in me to get all stressed by that unless it is life threatening, I guess. Do you think I should go to another dentist to see what another opinion on what would be best to fix it?

Well, here is an idea Alice. You could try the partial. If you find it's not working for you that well, then go after getting implants. You're right, they would be more trouble to get, but would be like real teeth. And i think Eric's right too, a lawyer would mean a lot of hassle, when this guy has said he's willing to make things right, i think i would go with that first. And i think i would explain to him too, that you will see if the partial works for you, but, with hd it may not, but let him know you're willing to try that route.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2010 11:05PM by Barb.

Alice,

I am so sorry that this happened to you. You do not need this stress.

Paula

Alice, I am so sorry this happened. Believe it or not, something similar happened to a woman I work with - the doc cracked a tooth of hers then she had to go in so many times to get it repaired. It didn't cost her anything but it was a lot of time and pain and hassle - but she does not have HD to make all of that even worse.

I don't think it sounds like you need a lawyer if he's offering to fix it. But you need to be satisfied with the fix. Talk to people who've had both implants and partials, and see which one you want. IF you take the partial, get him to sign that if you don't like it, he'll still be willing to do an implant.

Good luck!

I am sorry this happened. I would insist on an implant not the partial.

I had to have two teeth pulled, one on each side. Instead of an implant which I personally find scary, I have a three teeth cap (one on each side). The one on the left is a cap for an existing tooth, the one on the right is a cap for another existing tooth and the one in the middle is to replace the missing tooth. It goes up to the gum but isn't implanted. It is only held in place because it is attached to the other two caps which are cemented to existing teeth. I haven't had any problems with them at all.

Would something like that work?

Alice,

I'm facing a similar situation caused by age, not dental malpractice. You could mention that you'll be contacting the state dental society if you're not happy with his actions.

I'm training for a race on August 14th. After that I'm having laser periodontal surgery and 5 teeth extracted that can't be saved. They're the two back left lowers and 3 back left uppers. I'm also missing the back upper right tooth, which would be a candidate for an implant. I'm going to leave that alone since I can chew on that side.

Implants for missing uppers often require additional surgery to move the sinus. That adds additional time and cost. After my extractions heal I am going to get two lower implants at a cost of $2,000 each. I've decided on a partial for the 3 uppers. It would cost a total of $14,000 for the 3 upper implants. This stuff is expensive and my dental insurance only covers a small portion.

My regular dentist and periodontist say a well constructed partial will work fine, even though it feels different at first.

Will

Will, I'm glad you gave me some prices. I wonder how much your partial is going to cost? Marsha, I don't have two teeth on each side of the empty place for a bridge thing like you mention. But on my other upper side I do have an empty space where there was another extraction down last year. He offered to pay for a bridge on that, too. He isn't going to do any of the work himself, but some other dentist he knows. Do you think he's planning to ask this friend to make him a deal? I'm so suspicious, I guess. What do you all think of not doing the bridge on the one side that can still chew and ask him to give me the cash instead? Just curious. I live on 700 a month and haven't had more since not being able to work 14 years ago, so a lump of money like 3000. or more would be a great gift. Much better than just a tooth. )

No no Alice, you need your teeth, and even if he is getting a special deal, there is nothing wrong with that, then it's a win win for everyone.

ok alice... that is B_LLSH*T... DONT YOU DARE LET IT GO!!!!!
ONCE YOU AGREE TO IT, ITS TOO LATE... ofcourse he offered to
fix it...
1- his reputation would be badly tarnished
2- his insurance would whack him
3- a suit for wrongful medical practice will cost him...

seriously you should just first call a lawyer, if you cant
afford one LOOK UP 'LEGAL AID', in your area and call them.
or you could call the board of certified dentists, and ask
them what the protocol for this sort of situation is?

sure it takes time to litigate alice.. BUT.. MAYBE HE'S LYING.
MAYBE HE'S DONE IT BEFORE TO OTHER PEOPLE...
if you have a friend, ask for help if you need it but dont
make any agreements till you've asked questions, consider your
options... frankly, i would not want that man doing anything
else to your mouth... seriously... this is not a small mishap...

if you should recieve a monetary payment, all the better, you
could use the money... dont ask him for money yourself alice
let a lawyer ask on your behalf as a settlement if you want...

Alice,
I would absolutely go for the partial. Remember, you were already planning on having one tooth extracted. So now, because of his mistake, your dentist is not only giving you a solution to replace the tooth he wrongfully extracted, but also the tooth that was supposed to come out, and one that was previouly removed. If you go for the implant, he's only liable for the one tooth he wrongfully took out.

Alice,

I think the partial will cost between $300 and $500. Far less than the cost of implants. Getting a partial doesn't prevent me from doing implants later if I win the lottery.

I wouldn't be concerned that he's bringing another dentist in. There are different specialists needed for this kind of work. For example, my periodontist will do the implants (titanium posts) and my regular dentist will do the crowns that are attached to them.

Teeth and toenails were the Lord's practical joke on humankind. I have always suspected that someone has invented a clear plastic coating that could be applied to teeth and render them impervious to decay or aging. The dentists of the world are paying him $100 million a year to keep quiet.

Will

Tony grinds his teeth at night since the onset of his HD symptoms. It is terrible for his teeth and he breaks them. He now has four or five implants. We tried crowns first but they would not last but a week or so because of the grinding. The only solution for him was implants. They are expensive but we have dental insurance which pays about half the cost.

Since or oral surgeon planned to put Tony to sleep to set the posts, I arranged a conference call between him, the dentist who would put in the crown and the neurologist that Tony sees. I wanted to make sure that the medications and anesthesia used met with the neurologist?s approval.

The dentist has to make impressions to have the crown made and that worries me the most.

The implants have a life time warranty, but thank goodness they have worked for Tony and he does not break them with his grinding.

By the way, I?ll bet if you push it, the dentist will pay the total bill for the implants. He caused the problem!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2010 09:41AM by Maggie.

I am really sorry that this has happened to you. You have to give the dentist credit for recognizing the mistake and stepping up to the plate. Is it possible that the wrong tooth had issues also, so that it was an easy mistake to make? A lot of people are VERY happy with partials and they are also very expensive, like over $1,000. I would give him a chance to make things right. I don't think that hiring a lawyer and sueing the dentist will do any good because he has already offered to make things right. The stress of the situation is already bad enough, imagine going through whole process of going to court.

Thanks all, I'm appreciative of all your ideas. Next week I plan to go to the general dentist, not the oral surgeon, and see what he recommends as to partial or implants. I'm leaning toward partial since I simply hate lots of visits to the dentists over long periods of time with drilling and all. Maggie, what did the neurologist say about anathesia? If I could be put to sleep awhile, that might make it easier. I also grind my teeth, but a night guard helps me.

We are fortunate to have Vic as our oral surgeon; he?s smart and very caring. He graduated #1 in his dental school class at George Washington University and it is very common to get a phone call from him after he has worked on some tooth problem. I trust him. I use the dentist that he likes to work with.

When Tony saw Vic the first time after HD symptoms appeared, he didn?t seem to know much about HD, but by the second visit he did. It was obvious that he had researched it. This is the kind of guy that you need. We have never had the horrors that some pHDs have at the dentist?s office.

I don?t remember the name of the anesthesia that they use, but if you?d like I will call the office and get it. It was the one that the neurologist wanted and it was the one that Vic always uses.

They always put Tony to sleep. After the procedure they put him in a room with a cot and watch him for a while. Then they take him to my car in a wheel chair. Tony never complains but says that he has never had much pain with implants. They may not be the best choice for you.
Tony can't handle a night quard.