I need some advice and am wondering if I have a dental emergency on my hands. I went to Mexico to save some money on my dental care. They gave the three crowns in all. One of the crowns fell off after a few days, so I made the trip back to have it fixed. Then, they told me it needed a root canal treatment in order to have the crown replaced. When I asked why they didn’t do that to begin with they said root canals only work sometimes so aren’t worth it unless there is a problem. It sounded like they were trying to save me money before so I agreed to the root canal treatment. Now I am in massive pain and the tooth is really sensitive. I called them back and they said I would need to come back in. Now they are saying the tooth is cracked and I will need to extract it and get a dental implant. If it wasn’t cracked before does that mean they cracked it when they did the root canal? Do I go ahead with this extraction and replacement? I’m starting to lose confidence in them.

Bryce

Dear Bryce,

STARTING to lose confidence in them? I lost confidence back when the dental crown fell off. Properly bonding on a dental crown is a pretty basic dental procedure. Even the worst crowns should last a minimum of five years. Yours did not even last a few days. As for their root canal treatment, the excuse that they don’t always work does not wash with me. While root canal failure is a thing, if your tooth is infected you need a root canal treatment. Period. However, I don’t think you needed one. You gave no indication to me that you were in pain, which is one of the signs of an infected tooth.

I think you were given an unnecessary root canal. Not only that, they didn’t finish it. If they had, you would not be in pain. You can only have sensitivity in a tooth if there is still some viable tissue. A root canal treatment is supposed to remove all the inside tissue. Obviously, they didn’t. Now they are saying the tooth is cracked and you need to replace it. Even if it is true that the tooth is cracked, that does not make it unsavable.

I would not let these people anywhere near your teeth for even a second. I don’t know what the laws are in Mexico for patient recourse in these situations, but you may end up just having to cut your losses. If you are in pain, and it sounds like you are, I’d like you to schedule an urgent dental appointment with a dentist here in the United States. Get a true evaluation of this tooth and see where you stand. Then we’ll have a better idea of how you can get this healed.

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