Severe dental phobic left with cavity under sedation

[Vystriss]

I'm 27 and I live in Tennessee. 1st time to the dentist in ~9 years. I am a HUGE baby and have a severe dental phobia.... so I picked this particular dentist offering sedation dentistry. Obviously I cried and had the typical panic attack through the initial exam and xray visit (I know, I can't help it - it's awful), but was relieved when they said i had only 6 cavities and a "deep cleaning" needed after all these years (deep cleaning meaning cleaning up UNDER the gums, not a routine cleaning). I prepaid $2,100 out of pocket to have all the work done under sedation 2 weeks later. I had everything done yesterday and today when I was finally fully awake ... I noticed I still have one of the cavities in my teeth, unfilled. It is one that was very obvious and painful before, part of the reason I finally ended up finally going. It is on the outside (toward my cheek), meaning I can pull my cheek back to look at it very easily. It is a very large hole that is discolored on the inside and has tartar on the gumline above it. Did they just forget that one?? If they cleaned all of my teeth, how could they miss the big hole in that tooth while cleaning it? Or maybe they had not found it on the original visit (not likely, you can see it on a picture I took of my mouth it's that large) and didn't fix it because I hadn't prepaid for it? If that is the case, why was I not told about it when I awoke? My fiance who picked me up was told everything went well, was given my discharge papers, and scheduled me for a routine recheck cleaning in 6 weeks when i left. On the paperwork it says this routine recheck cleaning is to make sure I am healing well. If they really did a full on "deep cleaning" to all of my teeth .... how did they miss this molar with a large hole in it? Can I trust that they even cleaned all of my teeth since obviously this one wasn't cleaned? There are a few teeth still with discoloration on them, but it could be staining, right? I don't know what to think, I'm dumbfounded and seriously upset at the thought that I'll have to go through this all over again (I start sobbing as soon as they put me in the chair, I'm that phobic)!! It is the weekend so I haven't been able to call them yet, but I am getting more and more upset as I think about it. Is this negligence? Should I get my records and go to a different dentist for a 2nd opinion? Ahhhh, I don't want to go to any dentist at all!! Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[sandyclaus]

I'm 27 and I live in Tennessee. 1st time to the dentist in ~9 years. I am a HUGE baby and have a severe dental phobia.... so I picked this particular dentist offering sedation dentistry. Obviously I cried and had the typical panic attack through the initial exam and xray visit (I know, I can't help it - it's awful), but was relieved when they said i had only 6 cavities and a "deep cleaning" needed after all these years (deep cleaning meaning cleaning up UNDER the gums, not a routine cleaning). I prepaid $2,100 out of pocket to have all the work done under sedation 2 weeks later. I had everything done yesterday and today when I was finally fully awake ... I noticed I still have one of the cavities in my teeth, unfilled. It is one that was very obvious and painful before, part of the reason I finally ended up finally going. It is on the outside (toward my cheek), meaning I can pull my cheek back to look at it very easily. It is a very large hole that is discolored on the inside and has tartar on the gumline above it. Did they just forget that one?? If they cleaned all of my teeth, how could they miss the big hole in that tooth while cleaning it? Or maybe they had not found it on the original visit (not likely, you can see it on a picture I took of my mouth it's that large) and didn't fix it because I hadn't prepaid for it? If that is the case, why was I not told about it when I awoke? My fiance who picked me up was told everything went well, was given my discharge papers, and scheduled me for a routine recheck cleaning in 6 weeks when i left. On the paperwork it says this routine recheck cleaning is to make sure I am healing well. If they really did a full on "deep cleaning" to all of my teeth .... how did they miss this molar with a large hole in it? Can I trust that they even cleaned all of my teeth since obviously this one wasn't cleaned? There are a few teeth still with discoloration on them, but it could be staining, right? I don't know what to think, I'm dumbfounded and seriously upset at the thought that I'll have to go through this all over again (I start sobbing as soon as they put me in the chair, I'm that phobic)!! It is the weekend so I haven't been able to call them yet, but I am getting more and more upset as I think about it. Is this negligence? Should I get my records and go to a different dentist for a 2nd opinion? Ahhhh, I don't want to go to any dentist at all!! Any thoughts are appreciated.

You really need to be asking the dentist these questions. If they missed such an obvious cavity, who knows what else they missed? And they may well be liable for repeating the treatment for you at no cost - or they SHOULD, IMHO.

 

[ecmst12]

You paid for 6 fillings, did you get 6 fillings? And you do know your trips to the dentist would be much easier if you did them more often, right?

 

[barry1817]

dental you want copies of your records

I'm 27 and I live in Tennessee. 1st time to the dentist in ~9 years. I am a HUGE baby and have a severe dental phobia.... so I picked this particular dentist offering sedation dentistry. Obviously I cried and had the typical panic attack through the initial exam and xray visit (I know, I can't help it - it's awful), but was relieved when they said i had only 6 cavities and a "deep cleaning" needed after all these years (deep cleaning meaning cleaning up UNDER the gums, not a routine cleaning). I prepaid $2,100 out of pocket to have all the work done under sedation 2 weeks later. I had everything done yesterday and today when I was finally fully awake ... I noticed I still have one of the cavities in my teeth, unfilled. It is one that was very obvious and painful before, part of the reason I finally ended up finally going. It is on the outside (toward my cheek), meaning I can pull my cheek back to look at it very easily. It is a very large hole that is discolored on the inside and has tartar on the gumline above it. Did they just forget that one?? If they cleaned all of my teeth, how could they miss the big hole in that tooth while cleaning it? Or maybe they had not found it on the original visit (not likely, you can see it on a picture I took of my mouth it's that large) and didn't fix it because I hadn't prepaid for it? If that is the case, why was I not told about it when I awoke? My fiance who picked me up was told everything went well, was given my discharge papers, and scheduled me for a routine recheck cleaning in 6 weeks when i left. On the paperwork it says this routine recheck cleaning is to make sure I am healing well. If they really did a full on "deep cleaning" to all of my teeth .... how did they miss this molar with a large hole in it? Can I trust that they even cleaned all of my teeth since obviously this one wasn't cleaned? There are a few teeth still with discoloration on them, but it could be staining, right? I don't know what to think, I'm dumbfounded and seriously upset at the thought that I'll have to go through this all over again (I start sobbing as soon as they put me in the chair, I'm that phobic)!! It is the weekend so I haven't been able to call them yet, but I am getting more and more upset as I think about it. Is this negligence? Should I get my records and go to a different dentist for a 2nd opinion? Ahhhh, I don't want to go to any dentist at all!! Any thoughts are appreciated.

I would advise that you get copies of your dental records and ask peer review panel of the local dental association to review the treatment done per the records, and what they can actually see in your mouth.

I would also ask that they review the pre treatment x-rays to determine what was missed.

It should be noted that a dentist telling a patient that he needs a deep cleaning starts to step on a very slippery slope of proper care, and you would want to make sure that for this cleaning that a periodontal record exists of what the depth of pockets were prior to treatment.

And the sooner the requests start for this the happier you would be.


If nothing else, should they have missed the restoration on the first visit, then you would be entitled to have the treatment done, with sedation at no charge in the very near future.