Not happy with a dentists work, what are my options?

rogieop

Hi, ill keep this as short as possible.

Went to the dentist last friday, had a hole in one of my molars on the left side for a few years and just started getting one on my right side.

The dentist decided to fill the one on the right immediately but unfortunately ill need a root canal for the one on the left. no problem there.

Before i left he tole me he was going to put a temporary filling in my left hand tooth to stop from any other damage. Since then the pain on the left hand side is unbearable. Its constant and im taking pain killers non stop.I assumed on sat/sun it would go away after a while but no joy. Ive been working yesterday and today so couldnt go back to him. Im going to go in tomorrow to get it sorted, should i have to pay? For what its worth, ive had absolutely zero pain in that tooth before i went to him.

Is it possible the temp filling is rubbing off the root?

davo10

So you have a hole in a tooth for "a few years" and now it is hurting, but you are unhappy with the dentist and don't want to pay for the necessary root treatment? Have I missed something?

rogieop

davo10 wrote: »

So you have a hole in a tooth for "a few years" and now it is hurting, but you are unhappy with the dentist and don't want to pay for the necessary root treatment? Have I missed something?

Yes, you pretty much got every part of that wrong.

Ive had a hole in the tooth, it has never given me pain. I was informed i needed a root canal. After that i got a seperate tooth filled.

Then i got a temporary filling put in the original tooth while i wait for my root canal( which is costing €1100 so will prob be a few weeks away) since the temporary filling went in ive been in horrible pain.

irlirishkev

Something's not right. Ring your dentist/reception and explain you're in agony. They'll most likely tell you to pop back in for a look.

Take it from there.

Deffo you should have got in touch with your dentist as soon as possible after the pain started. Could be any number of reasons but only your dentist can sort it for you.
When I was getting my teeth done a couple of years ago, I had temp fillings replaced a few times, never got charged extra after the first one.
I had 2 lots of root canal on Molars and each one cost me €795.

davo10

Op, you have a big hole in a tooth, it needs a root canal. That is what needs to be done now. Do you want that for free?

I love sweets, I don't brush my teeth, I have a big hole in my tooth, it's been there for years, a small piece of temporary filling material is put in to stop it decaying further, now it hurts, ITS YOUR FAULT, TREAT ME FOR FREE.

I don't think so.

rogieop

davo10 wrote: »

Op, you have a big hole in a tooth, it needs a root canal. That is what needs to be done now. Do you want that for free?

I love sweets, I don't brush my teeth, I have a big hole in my tooth, it's been there for years, a small piece of temporary filling material is put in to stop it decaying further, now it hurts, ITS YOUR FAULT, TREAT ME FOR FREE.

I don't think so.

Do you have problems understanding plain English. Read the posts again. Then stop... think... read them again and then come back to me.

Where on earth did i say i was looking for a free root canal. I have no problem paying for a root canal apart from the fact ill need the best part of a month to get the money together. Why should i wait in pain for 4 weeks to get treatment when i was in absolutely zero pain before going to see the dentist?

davo10

rogieop wrote: »

Do you have problems understanding plain English. Read the posts again. Then stop... think... read them again and then come back to me.

Where on earth did i say i was looking for a free root canal. I have no problem paying for a root canal apart from the fact ill need the best part of a month to get the money together. Why should i wait in pain for 4 weeks to get treatment when i was in absolutely zero pain before going to see the dentist?

You are in pain because you have a great big cavity in a tooth which needs a root canal. How you pay for it and when you can afford to have it done is your business, you caused the cavity to be there not your dentist. A temporary filling is literally placed in a cavity, no anaesthetic, no drilling, no trauma to the tooth.

Is the tooth on the other side which had a smaller cavity, was treated and has a permanent filling sore?

rogieop

davo10 wrote: »

You are in pain because you have a great big cavity in a tooth which needs a root canal. How you pay for it and when you can afford to have it done is your business, you caused the cavity to be there not your dentist. A temporary filling is literally placed in a cavity, no anaesthetic, no drilling, no trauma to the tooth.

Is the tooth on the other side which had a smaller cavity, was treated and has a permanent filling sore?

ok, so ive had the hole in my tooth for nearly 3 years. never had any pain from it. Go to the dentist, get a different tooth sorted, and get a temorary filling in the other one and all of a sudden im in pain for a whole weekend.

And you assume this has nothing to do with the temporary filling. Its not in the least bit possible the dentist made some type of error putting it in and hit a nerve or something?

20/20

davo10 wrote: »

Op, you have a big hole in a tooth, it needs a root canal. That is what needs to be done now. Do you want that for free?

I love sweets, I don't brush my teeth, I have a big hole in my tooth, it's been there for years, a small piece of temporary filling material is put in to stop it decaying further, now it hurts, ITS YOUR FAULT, TREAT ME FOR FREE.

I don't think so.

You need to get a life,read what the OP is saying.Where is your info coming from.
Just curious OP but what part of the city is the dentist or postal area Dub?

rogieop

20/20 wrote: »

You need to get a life,read what the OP is saying.Where is your info coming from.
Just curious OP but what part of the city is the dentist or postal area Dub?

Its not in Dublin at all. Based in Dundalk. THe surgery is highly rated, there are two dentists, one who i knew of and a new lad.

The one who has a brilliant rep was booked up but assured me this guy was brilliant aswell. Im 100% happy with the work he done on my right side but i just cant believe the pain im left in on the opposite side, which he only worked on for a max of 2 mins. Im convinced the temp filling has pinched a nerve or something which could be a common mistake.

Im not looking to make a complaint or anything i just want it sorted and want to know if i will be charged because tomorrow is the day before payday and i simply dont have the money, but ideally would prefer to not have to sit another 24 hours in pain if i dont need to.

20/20

Sorry I just presumed it was Dublin,and was wondering was it the same dentist I had problems with in Dublin 13.
He also wnated to send me for root canal work at over 1000euro.I found a dentist on South Circular Rd Dublin who charged 400euro last summer and everything is still good with no problems.

ballsymchugh

orangina, the drink, used to have a tagline 'you shake it, you wake it' or something to that effect. that sometimes happens with teeth. it may be chronically infected and not cause any pain for a long time, but then when treatment is started on it, it gets aggravated.
you know it needs further treatment, but it's fairly likely that this would have happened no matter who did it. just give them a call and explain. they should be able to sort you out sooner rather than later.

Mr. U

Everybody chill! I feel ya pain brah! Get the temporary filling removed; in my opinion. When the filling set, I imagine the tooth was put under a lot of pressure that it wasn't used to; thus resulting in pain and discomfort. Trust me I'm a dentist. Except I'm not. But I still think I'm right. Good luck brah!!

Oral Surgeon

Please elaborate, he spent 2 minutes on this tooth doing what?? Local anaesthetic?? Drilling?? Temporary filling paste??
Temporary fillings are made of pretty sedentary / inert stuff designed to calm nerves down. It works in the vast majority of teeth and people, not you apparently... As said before the ultimate cause is the cavity. Go get it seen. I don't know any dentist that charges twice for a temp filling.... He will charge of he has to start the root canal now but that would likely be off the root canal bill.

I had a grinding in my brakes, car was "ok" apart from that.... Brought it to the garage, took it apart, suddenly it was unroadworthy as the brake caliper and disc were for the bin.... Had to take a courtesy car and pay €900 for the fix. Was it the garages fault? I knew there was something wrong when I went in.... Just my crap brakes and my bad luck.... Suck it up....

btkm8unsl0w5r4

The temporary filling is not causing pain, its the hole and bacteria in it that are causing the problem. Get whoever put that bacteria there to pay for the repair. This is a classic post hoc fallacy that is getting terribly common on the forum lately.

Dianthus

The dentist advised ever before touching the tooth, that it needed a root canal treatment
Unfortunately it's completely impossible- even for a dentist- to predict *when* said tooth needing root canal, will actually become symptomatic (?hours/days/weeks/months).
Also to what extent those symptoms will manifest (?a niggle/twinge, raging toothache, a sinus, an abscess, facial swelling)
Murphys Law dictates it'll always be soon after your first visit in years, & severe :rolleyes:

If the dentist does nothing at all to the tooth, & you develop pain afterwards, its- "Why didn't they treat the tooth& do something, when they saw there was a problem?"
If the dentist numbs the tooth, cleans out all the decay, & puts in a temporary dressing over the nerve, its's - "The tooth wasn't giving me any pain, now I want to know why do I have to pay money for this work as well as paying for the root canal treatment?"
If the dentist doesn't numb the tooth, doesn't clean the decay, & simply puts a temporary filling over it (?presumably at no charge?) to stop it getting any further decay until the root canal can be performed, you can arrive at the scenario you've just outlined.

It's annoying& frustrating for all involved.
Contact your dentist to update him on this development& ask advice on pain relief.

res ipsa

Kailyn High Peacock wrote: »

The temporary filling is not causing pain, its the hole and bacteria in it that are causing the problem. Get whoever put that bacteria there to pay for the repair. This is a classic post hoc fallacy that is getting terribly common on the forum lately.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc.

harpsman

rogieop wrote: »

Hi, ill keep this as short as possible.

Went to the dentist last friday, had a hole in one of my molars on the left side for a few years and just started getting one on my right side.

The dentist decided to fill the one on the right immediately but unfortunately ill need a root canal for the one on the left. no problem there.

Before i left he tole me he was going to put a temporary filling in my left hand tooth to stop from any other damage. Since then the pain on the left hand side is unbearable. Its constant and im taking pain killers non stop.I assumed on sat/sun it would go away after a while but no joy. Ive been working yesterday and today so couldnt go back to him. Im going to go in tomorrow to get it sorted, should i have to pay? For what its worth, ive had absolutely zero pain in that tooth before i went to him.

Is it possible the temp filling is rubbing off the root?

Whats going on here is because you have a large cavity bacteria have entered the tooth and made their way up the root canal to the top of the root, resulting in chronic infection of the tooth. When theres chronic infection of a tooth it can be asymptomatic for a long time but usually your body eventually reacts to this infection and tries to fight it, thus producing an abscess, which is very painful. Sometimes this is spontaneous but sometimes it starts after a small stimulus-placing a filling, biting on something hard or chipping the tooth can all cause a chronic infection to change to an acute abscess suddenly. It has nothing to do with "the filling touching the nerve" or any other gobblydygook explanations you will hear or read.

Long story short its not your dentists fault. In this case, it really is your fault for not attending to the problem much earlier. The only way to fix this is root canal treatment or extraction of the tooth, which you will have to pay for, as Id imagine you werent charged too much for the temporary filling.

Dentists hate it when people blame them for stuff thats their own fault, thats why youre getting grief from the other lads.

Hope this is of some help to you.