Suggestions please. Dentist broke a piece of his intrument off in my canal.

[Neisha Monet]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California.

I am looking for any suggestions and comments that will help direct me. I went to the dentist and had a root canal performed. The dentist wasn't able to close my tooth up because my root/gum was infected. He placed some medicine within my tooth and had me come back in a week. When I returned he was cleaning my tooth out and I felt a very sharp pain. The pain was excruciating. He stopped and told me that my tooth was still infected, he put some more medicine inside and told me to come back in two weeks. Well a few days went by and I was in a lot of pain. I called my dentist, he wasn't in so I was referred to their other branch. This dentist took a xray of my mouth and low and behold there was a rod left in my gum/tooth canal. This dentist looked nervous and said this rarely happens and referred me to a specialist. I go see the specialist in a couple of days. In the meantime I have been in pain, sometimes i'll feel sharp pains shoot down the right side of my body and I have a constant throbbing/tingling in my my jaw. Is this malpractice? Does this sound like nerve damage? Shouldn't the dentist of noticed a piece of his tool was missing? Any advice.. Suggestions.. Comments will be helpful. Thank you.

 

[CurrentlyUndone]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California.

I am looking for any suggestions and comments that will help direct me. I went to the dentist and had a root canal performed. The dentist wasn't able to close my tooth up because my root/gum was infected. He placed some medicine within my tooth and had me come back in a week. When I returned he was cleaning my tooth out and I felt a very sharp pain. The pain was excruciating. He stopped and told me that my tooth was still infected, he put some more medicine inside and told me to come back in two weeks. Well a few days went by and I was in a lot of pain. I called my dentist, he wasn't in so I was referred to their other branch. This dentist took a xray of my mouth and low and behold there was a rod left in my gum/tooth canal. This dentist looked nervous and said this rarely happens and referred me to a specialist. I go see the specialist in a couple of days. In the meantime I have been in pain, sometimes i'll feel sharp pains shoot down the right side of my body and I have a constant throbbing/tingling in my my jaw. Is this malpractice? Does this sound like nerve damage? Shouldn't the dentist of noticed a piece of his tool was missing? Any advice.. Suggestions.. Comments will be helpful. Thank you.

We cannot diagnose you, obviously. You can take your records to a medmal attorney for a full review.

 

[mmmagique]

Ok, hubs says that a file breaking off is fairly common. The question then becomes what did your dentist do after it happened? (he's supposed to inform you, and preferably refer you to a root canal specialist because it can be tricky removing them.) I'm guessing your dentist's argument is going to be that he had no way of knowing the file was in there. Although I'd want to know where he thought it went.

As stated above, get a few consultations with medmal attorneys and see what they have to say. (My husband is often called as an expert witness in dental medmal cases)