Bad Root Canal

[pwalton]

What is the name of your state? PA
My son had a root canal done a month ago. About an hour after the procedure, he was having extreme pain, so I called the Dentist. The Dentist said that it would go away and to wait. So, after a very long weekend of severe pain, I had to rush my poor 13 year old back to the Dentist for an emergency exam. After doing an x-ray on the tooth that had the root canal, we found that only half of the root was taken out and there was still a live nerve root in there, hence, causing severe pain. The dentist then gave my son 2 weeks worht of anitbiotics and said it should go away. It has not been a month and we did go back last week for a follow up visit and told the dentist that he still had pain in that tooth. Now that he is done the anitbiotics, the pain is getting worse. The dentist simply told me it can not be possible for him to have that much pain, unless there was an abscess (which there is not), or there was a nerve that was split (which there was!! And he must have forgotten???) So with that advise, he said the only thing he could do would be to extract the tooth!!! I decided to get my son's x-rays and get a 2nd opinion. By the way, I have NO DENTAL INSURANCE! I just got my 2nd opinion this morning, and the new dentist told me that the 1st dentist failed to get all of the nerve root and of course is causing my poor child a lot of pain, and that I now need to take him to a specialist to fix the first root canal. I want the 1st dentist to give credit back the money I paid for the first root canal. How do I go about doing this? He seems to be very hard to deal with. I just left a message for him today. Anyone out there, can you please help me?? Greatly appreciated!!

 

[ecmst12]

Take him to the specialist and pay for the root canal to be re-done properly. Tell the incompetant dentist that you demand a full refund. If he refuses, sue him in small claims court. I can not believe that he SAW and ACKNOWLEDGED that the root canal was not complete yet did nothing to fix it. Did you ask him to re-do it? He would have had to wait until the infection was better before doing it, but he was done with the antibiotics 2 weeks ago.

 

[pwalton]

Yes, when we went back after the first visit (after 3 days of agony and no pain meds or antibiotics given the first visit), the dentist did another x-ray which visibly showed the live root still in his tooth. He had no infection but was given antibiotics at the 2nd visit (the emergency one) and I was told that the antibiotics would fix everything. I asked if he would fix the tooth and he just replied with a "wait and see what happens". So, after he finished the 2 weeks of antibiotics, still having pain, the dentist proceded to do NOTHING!!! I called him at his home this past Monday because my son was having so much pain and that is when we got into an argument! He basically told me there was no way he could be in that much pain and if he indeed was, the only thing he offered was to pull the tooth. We just went to a new dentist today and he was a bit shocked by our experience and told me that if it was he himself that did the bad root canal, he would immediately send us to an Endodontist (root canal specialist) and refund fully for the initial root canal. So.... What are my rights? How can I get my money back from this first dentist for what he did to my son's tooth, and now I have to pay double the amount to have it fixed by a specialist (WITH NO DENTAL INSURANCE!!) Are their any rights out there to consumers for dental practices like this? I don't want it to get ugly, but I just want my money back from the first root canal to help pay for his tooth to get fixed so he has no more pain.... AND for this dentist to not even care about him being in pain, no pain medication, no advise on what to do next... I am so upset right now!!

 

[barry1817]

root canal gone awry

What is the name of your state? PA
My son had a root canal done a month ago. About an hour after the procedure, he was having extreme pain, so I called the Dentist. The Dentist said that it would go away and to wait. So, after a very long weekend of severe pain, I had to rush my poor 13 year old back to the Dentist for an emergency exam. After doing an x-ray on the tooth that had the root canal, we found that only half of the root was taken out and there was still a live nerve root in there, hence, causing severe pain. The dentist then gave my son 2 weeks worht of anitbiotics and said it should go away. It has not been a month and we did go back last week for a follow up visit and told the dentist that he still had pain in that tooth. Now that he is done the anitbiotics, the pain is getting worse. The dentist simply told me it can not be possible for him to have that much pain, unless there was an abscess (which there is not), or there was a nerve that was split (which there was!! And he must have forgotten???) So with that advise, he said the only thing he could do would be to extract the tooth!!! I decided to get my son's x-rays and get a 2nd opinion. By the way, I have NO DENTAL INSURANCE! I just got my 2nd opinion this morning, and the new dentist told me that the 1st dentist failed to get all of the nerve root and of course is causing my poor child a lot of pain, and that I now need to take him to a specialist to fix the first root canal. I want the 1st dentist to give credit back the money I paid for the first root canal. How do I go about doing this? He seems to be very hard to deal with. I just left a message for him today. Anyone out there, can you please help me?? Greatly appreciated!!

When a general dentist does a root canal he is expected to treat at the levels of the specialist. Having failed to complete a root canal, not removing all nerve tissue in a canal, and having the x-ray that shows that the root canal was incomplete, I would suggest that you contact either a malpractice attorney, unfortuantely they may tell you that there isn't enough value in the case, or the dental society peer review panel which has the power to have the funds returned to you.

I would also suggest that a complaint be filed with the state dental board, and in the complain cite gross negligence in the treatment.

You may also wish to include the terms billing fraud when you discuss this as in the past I have been aware of cases where the improper treatment is considerd a fraud on the consumer, and fraud issues are really important because there are hefty consequences when a dentist bills in a fraudulent manner. And billing for a root canal that has never been completed is a fraud.

As to antibiotics, unless there was an infection that would not be the way to ease pain, It live nerve tissue was left in a canal, antibiotics will not resolve the problem and that is misleading and deceitful, to tell a patient something that will not resovle a problem but cause more costs.

Just wonder if this dentist would have said the same things or treated the same way if the tooth in question was in the mouth of his own child.

Enough said.

If you have a problem with an attorney handling it or neeed someone that can assess the case for the attorney, you can either contact me directly or have your attorney contact me directly,

[email protected]

 

[ecmst12]

There is no malpractice case here because there has been no permanent damage. Once the root canal is done properly by someone who knows what he's doing, the kid will be fine. There IS a case for mom to get her money back from the quack. Which can be accomplished in small claims court, as mentioned.

 

[barry1817]

negligence and malpractice

Causing no harm, does not mean that malpractice didn't occur.

As to a legal case and getting compensation, it is unfortunate that there is a finanacial component.

Causing no harm does not mean that there was no negligence.

Malpractice is the treatment below the standard of care and this case seems to be clear cut, below the standard of care-negligence, or gross negligence, based on definition and malpractice by deafinition.

 

[ecmst12]

I said there is no malpractice CASE. And I know you know the difference.

 

[seagoing]

just a thought,did you pay by credit card,if so dispute charge,or small claims for sure

 

[g14theroad]

Some help

If you go to small claims court make sure you record any and all conversations with the dentist. Also, supeona all his records and all the records from the other dentist. You also should be able to supeona the dentist who gave you the second opinion.

If you really want to set the Dentist straight file a complaint with your states dental licensing board. Dentist and doctors tend to listen when the board that licenses them starts to investigate them. You can use this as leverage to get him to give you your money back