Tag Archives: dental sedation

Dental Emergency

Emergency Dentist Caused Massive Problems

I had a problem where my tooth number 19 became sensitive to cold. I didn’t have a regular dentist because I have a bit of a dental anxiety. Generally, my teeth stay healthy, but this time I could tell something was wrong. I looked online and there was a dentist who called himself an emergency dentist which meant he would see patients who didn’t have a regular dentist. I went in and he did a quick examine and some x-rays. He told me that one of my wisdom teeth is impacted and should probably be extracted, but if I wanted him to do a filling instead, that could fix it as well. I went ahead to have him do the filling. It was just a few days after that when everything blew up. I was in tremendous pain. I went back to the dentist and he adjusted the filling and told me to take over-the-counter pain meds. I mentioned the pain felt deeper and closer to tooth 19, but he said the only other option was to extract the tooth. I asked for a referral to an oral surgeon and went to have the tooth extracted. That seemed to help things and I was relieved. However, when the prescribed antibiotics and pain meds wore off, the pain returned. I could not understand that because there was not tooth left. Eventually, I ended up at the ER in so much pain I didn’t know what to do. They told me that I had an abscess on the tooth which I’d been telling the dentist all along was the problem. I called him and he just told me to give it time. Instead, I went back to the oral surgeon because I didn’t trust the dentist any longer. He said that he didn’t do root canals and I need an endodontist. So, I found an endodontist. I’m out a ton of money and time, not to mention all the pain I’ve been in. To be honest, I’m more likely to avoid the dentist than ever before because of this. Is there any way I can get at least some of this money back from my dentist for all these unnecessary procedures?

Dennis

Dear Dennis,

Man in pain, grabbing his cheek in need of emergency dental care.

What a horror story! I am so sorry this happened to you. I would consider this gross malpractice. Here is why:

1. The sensitivity to cold should have told your dentist right away that a root canal treatment was likely needed. If he didn’t like doing root canals, he could have simply refered you elsewhere.
2. The pain didn’t go away with the filling and he is just adjusting your bite? That was another symptom of the need for a root canal treatment.
3. You have an extraction and that doesn’t help the problem, should have told him he had the wrong tooth. Instead he tells you to “give it time.” Time for what? To develop a bigger infection and leave you with a dental emergency?

My suggestion is that you go to the dentist and ask him politely to pay for all the extra, unnecessary procedures. If you end up losing the tooth, he should pay for its replacement as well. If he refuses, you have a good malpractice case.

Help for Your Dental Anxiety

I want to make sure you are aware of dental sedation. This can allow you to get your dental work done without anxiety and without pain. There are different levels of sedation. My suggestion for you would be to use oral conscious sedation until you are comfortable at the dentist again. It is administered by a pill. However, it is so strong you will need someone to stay with you a ride to and from the dentist as well as stay with you for a few hours after your procedure until you are steady on your feet and lucid again.

Patients who use this say it changes their life. In fact, they are so relaxed that most people just sleep through their entire procedure. Give this a try, with a different dentist than the one who was such an incompetent disaster.

This blog is brought to you by Gilbert Dentist Dr. Matt Roper.

Affordable Dentistry

Affordable Crown Costing Me a Fortune

I needed a dental crown and my dentist was going to charge $1000. I found another dentist about twenty minutes away who only charges half of that, which was much more affordable for me. Initially, that was great news, but it has fallen off six times since I got it, two months ago. Each time, the dentist puts it on again free of charge, but I still lose a minimum of two to four hours at work, depending on how long I am there. I get paid hourly, so this is cutting into my income quite a bit. Plus, my boss is not too pleased. Now, the stupid thing has broken and we have to start over. He said, I would only have to pay half price since I haven’t had it that long, but still, that is another $250 on top of MORE time lost at work. Is this normal?

Kelly

Dear Kelly,

Gilbert CEREC Crown

I’m sorry, let me understand something. He’s offering you a half-price crown because it didn’t last that long? Really? I believe you said you have had this crown a little over two MONTHS, right? A dentist crown at a MINIMUM should last five YEARS! Most go much longer than that. Do not pay him any more money or go back to this dentist. Instead, I want you to get a refund on the original crown. He does not know what he is doing.

Aside from the crown breaking years before it should even begin to show signs of wear, there is the issue of the bonding failing over and over again. Most dentists go their entire careers without a dental crown falling out. This dentist can’t seem to go much more than a week, and that is just with one patient. I probably sound harsh, but you are getting poor quality care and I don’t want you to go through any more with this dentist.

Cheap Versus Affordable Dental Care

There is a huge difference between a cheap and an affordable dentist. Let’s say, for argument’s sake that you go ahead and have the crown redone at half price. Now you are up to $750 not including lost income and time away from work. This time, the crown lasts two years before you need another one. That’s another $500. Now you’re up to $1250. The next crown lasts a generous 5 years (woohoo!). That’s another $500 and you’re up to $1750. If you’d gotten the original crown for $1000, you could have had a hassle-free crown that lasted up between 10-15 years, assuming your current dentist does good, standard work. As you can see the “cheap dentist” was much more expensive.

While there are good affordable dentists, you won’t usually see their prices so dramatically lower than everyone else. When a dentist is that much lower it is usually a red flag. Often that happens for one of two reasons. Either they are terrible at their job and have to keep their prices low enough to constantly draw in new patients, because he has no patient retention. Another possibility is they are new dentists and need to get patients. That’s fine. We all start somewhere. For a price that low, they’d have to cut corners to keep profits reasonable enough to stay in business. Those cut corners could negatively impact your outcome.

I would go back to your dentist, tell him your financial situation and ask if he or she would be willing to allow you to make payments toward your new crown.
This blog is brought to you by Gilbert Dentist Dr. Matt Roper.
We offer dental sedation.

Dental Emergency

She Should Not Trust This Dentist

I need some advice. I went to the dentist because of a toothache. It was actually hard for me to go because I have a lot of dental anxiety. When I got there he said that there is an infection in a tooth that already had a filling. He said the tooth is too far gone to save and it needs to be extracted then replaced with a dental implant. He gave me some antibiotics and scheduled me to come back in less than a week for the extraction. I’m having serious doubts about this, but it may just be because I don’t like dentists. Should I just move forward with this or are there other options?

Mandy

Dear Mandy,

A woman grabbing her jaw in need of an emergency dentist

I am very glad you wrote. I think you need to get a second opinion before moving forward with this. If the tooth were as far gone as the dentist indicated, he would not have needed an x-ray to see that. Your filling would literally be falling in on the decay. Plus, you would have been having severe pain for a while and that isn’t something you mentioned. You seemed to indicate the pain was fairly new. Have another dentist look at this just to make sure this is what your tooth really needs. It’s better to be safe in cases like this.

It showed real courage and wisdom to go to the dentist when you had a toothache, even with your dental anxiety. Tooth infections are considered dental emergencies and you did the right thing even if I am not sure you should trust this dentist.

I want to address something that can help with your anxiety. When you get your second opinion, try to find a dentist who offers dental sedation options. Doing it that way will enable you to get an anxiety-free and pain-free appointment. Patients with anxiety find dental sedation can change their lives and enable them to finally get all the dental work they’ve been avoiding for years done.

This blog is brought to you by Gilbert Dentist Dr. Matt Roper.

CEREC crowns

CEREC Crown Hurts

I had a CEREC crown done on a tooth. This isn’t my first crown, but it is my first CEREC crown. For some reason, this one hurts when I bite down. Is that something peculiar to this type of crown? I’ve never had that happen before?

Jeff

Dear Jeff,

Man in pain, grabbing his cheek in need of emergency dental care.

I truly do not believe the pain you are experiencing is because it is a CEREC crown. Most of the time, CEREC crowns fit better because they are precisely milled by a computer. So, what COULD be causing your pain?

The first reason could be that the bite is too high. If it isn’t seated in the correct place, then when you bite down all your biting force is going to that one spot instead of being spread across all your teeth. This can cause some substantial pain. If this is the case, your dentist can adjust the crown and you should have no further problems.

You didn’t mention if you’d already been back to your dentist and this has been done. If the crown has been adjusted and you are still experiencing pain, the next step would be to check for a lingering infection. If you had this crown placed after a root canal treatment, there can be a canal that was missed. Though our teeth only have a limited number of canals, many times they have branches that shoot off into other parts of the tooth. A dentist can do everything right and still not be able to get everything the first go-round. In that case, a re-treatment can be tried. If you do need a re-treatment, I generally recommend you see a root canal specialist to increase your chances of success the second time around.

Even if you didn’t have a root canal treatment, there could still have been an infection there. Sometimes, the infections are small and hard to read, but get easier as the infection grows. A simple diagnostic x-ray should help determine if this is the cause of your pain.

I would start with these two avenues of inquiry as they are the most common.

This blog is brought to you by Gilbert Dentist Dr. Matt Roper.
Learn about our dental sedation options.

Dental Emergency

This Dentist Doesn’t Understand Tooth Infections

I had a tooth infection and went to see a dentist. It’s my first time with this dentist. To be honest, I usually avoid dentists but this one couldn’t be helped I was in so much pain. He gave me and antibiotic and I started to get better, but now I’m worse again. Do I need a second round or did I have the wrong antibiotic?

Leslie

Dear Leslie,

A woman grabbing her jaw in need of an emergency dentist

Either there is some miscommunication between you and your dentist or he has a profound lack of understanding of how dental infections work. An antibiotic is only useful to hold off a dental infection. It won’t cure it. In order for a tooth infection to be completely treated, a dentist has to get in there and physically remove the infected pulp. This can be done by a root canal treatment or by extracting the tooth completely.

It is always better to try and save a tooth, so a root canal would be my first recommendation. If your dentist didn’t tell you this would be necessary and just prescribed you antibiotics and sent you on your way, I would consider this gross negligence on his part.

Yes, you would start to feel better after taking the antibiotics, because they were doing their job. Once they ran out, however, because the infected pulp is still there, it rears its ugly head again. This will continue to spread and what was a dental emergency can turn into a life-threatening emergency rather quickly. This is because your heart, lungs, and brain are all close to your jaw. This needs to be treated.

Dealing with Dental Anxiety

I noticed you said you usually avoid dentists. That is a common issue, especially with patients who suffer from some dental anxiety. If that is you., one step you can take that will help is to see a sedation dentist when you go in for your treatment. They can provide you with a pill that will completely relax you, allowing you to get the dental care you need in an anxiety-free and pain-free way.

Please don’t put this treatment off. It’s important. Sadly, people still die from tooth infections.

This blog is brought to you by Gilbert Dentist Dr. Matt Roper.