dental malpractice

california

patient has 10 crowns done #4-#13 (upper front) by "cosmetic dentist". immediately after cementing crowns, the dentist says he is not happy with #7 and will replace it/had problems getting it to fit right and it looks wierd (turned and shorter). he knew he had problems but cemented it anyway and within 5 minutes said he would replace.

#4,5,6 are noticeably shorter than should be to look right and match the other side, plus the crowns are oddly shaped and don't look right. Dentist looks at them and agrees they do not look right and says he will redo them too.

patient has appointment scheduled to redo #7,4,5,6. in the 4 weeks after the crowns were cemented and before the appointment to have them redone...another problem developed. the central crowns #8 and 9 pushed forward and out creating a very wide and noticeable gap that was never there before or when crown were cemented. the dentist looked at the new problem with the centrals and said that should not have happened and his guess was the crown he put in that didn't sit right (#7) must have pushed against the centrals and caused the slow separation to occur.

the dentist says he will redo the centrals #8,9....was already going to redo #7,4,5,6 and will also redo #10 to give the lab more room to work with redoing 7,8,9,10 and to be sure color matches. after all this, it was too late in the appointment to redo 7,4,5,6 which was why the patient was there...plus now he was also redoing 3 more (8,9,10), so he said he would have the assistant call patient to set up a block of time to redo them all at once.

two months went by and no word...then three months...patient called and also emailed appointment scheduling online asking what was going on/why no word. the receptionist first said dentist was on vacation...then he was at a seminar...then they couldn't find any openings for two more months...or she didn't answer at all. when you call office there is a recording/she didn't return calls...or emails or FAXes.

4 months had passed....patient was furious...plus front teeth and 2 on either side developed wider gaps slowly and looked bad. patient wrote a letter to the dentist asking what was going on since they were suddenly getting the runaround, etc. when could the dentist redo the crowns,etc.

the dentist wrote back and suddenly says he never said he was redoing any of the crowns...that he cemented them in because the patient liked them. he said the patient was rude to the receptionist (trying for months to get answers or an appointment or anything) and that he thinks it would be better if the patient is dismissed from his practice and goes to another dentist and will send a letter to that effect.

the patient is furious, baffled and asked for money back if the dentist would not redo the crowns as promised ($1,150/crown). The dentist said no.

what should they do? can they sue? for what? malpractice? breach of contract?

thanks

also, at one point patient was able to get to one of his assistants who was there when dentist said he would redo 7,4,5,6 and they agreed that the dentist did say he would redo. there was a different assistant at other appointment.

oracle117
Ten crowns at $1150=$11,500; and, that exceeds the amount usually allowable in small claims court.

If your teeth are truly in the condition that you say they are, you may be looking at orthodontics to get the teeth back into position. That could be an additional $5-6,000, depending on the length of time necessary to move and stablize the teeth.

I hope you have photos of before your having any cosmetic dental work done so that the appearance of your natural teeth can be ascertained. The drifting of your teeth did occur at a faster pace than may be considered normal, but you are talking about after the teeth had been prepared for crowns and it may be just the crown placement and correlation that is affected and not the actual teeth.

Consult with a medmal attorney in your area. The attorney can depose the dental assistant and/or question her in court about statements made by the dentist.

I think you have the "common knowledge" statute in your favor: It is common knowledge that cosmetic dental work is supposed to improve the appearance of the teeth and that to do so, the crowns or veneers must be uniform in color and size and conform to the natural shape of the mouth/gums. If, or when, jurors look at your teeth, their common knowledge of what to expect from cosmetic dental work will result in their determining that the dental work was not performed in a manner consistent with common expectations. I'm not an attorney and I may have used the wrong language or the wrong legal term, but the concept is valid and hopefully valid in your circumstance.

Get an attorney ASAP; a statute of limitations will apply and you want corrective dental treatment as soon as possible.

Best wishes,
EC

follow up

Thank you for your information.

The two central crowns separated slowly over a period of 4 months. When the crowns were cemented in there was no gap between them and there were no gap in the original teeth. The teeth were and are not loose either. There are photos before during and after the crowns cemented and since they have separated. Two assistants were witness at various times to what the dentist said.

The dentist speculated that it might have been caused by #7 which he said when he tried on was a real problem, something about it didn't fit right and kept sinking and moving, but for whatever reasons he didn't say that at the time and proceeded to cement it anyway. Later he said #7 may have pushed the centrals forward and apart.

The other possible factor (patient's thought/worry) is the dentist left the patient in a one piece temporary crown (10 teeth attached) for 6 months before placing the crowns in. Various reasons 1. he cracked off one of the teeth stumps when drilling exposing the root...then did root canal...then root canal got infected/face swelled up/on penicillin for 5 weeks 2. then the dentist went on a month's vacation....was at a seminar 3. didn't have any open appointments. could teeth have shifted around then?

patient had a friend who went to the same dentist for front crowns and bridge. although the end result was nice looking, it took much aggrivation and battling with the dentist to redo/correct problems after try in etc. to get them right, etc. on two instances along the way, the dentist said something and by the next appointment reneged until she argued and got him to back down.

in light of this, but trusting that in the end the crowns would look good, the patient asked the receptionist/office manager on the initial appointment if would be ok if she recorded the discussions to be sure that she understood what all was going to be done, when, etc. The woman said it was ok. The patient then recorded her discussions about the teeth.

it seems strange that the dentist is acting like this, unless he sees some problem that has occurred as a result of something he did and is afraid he will get in trouble for it if it can't be fixed or would result in something bad to fix it???????

running away for the problem and letting the patient hang is not right, especially since the gap has gotton wider and on one side there is a gap (very slight crack) developing between two other teeth, probably in response to open room created from the centrals moving forward and apart?????


Thanks!!!

any thoughts???

oracle117
The temporary crowns were proper and probably didn't contribute to any tooth drifting.

I have no idea what to tell you other than to see an attorney. Medmal consultations are usually free but I'm not sure if your situation will fall into regular medmal. It couldn't hurt to start there.

My other advice is to NOT try to prove your case or line up evidence, etc.; let the attorney do that.

EC

thank you!!!

california

Thank you very much for your information. It is very helpful!!

Overall I have received very helpful information on this site for myself and for friends and relatives I have asked questions for about their situations/problems. One neighbor who I asked advice for then went to an attorney who said that the advice given was good as well.

There have been those who just give smart ass remarks on here too. While they are not helpful when you really need an answer, at least they are amusing...if not at the time, later on!

Thank you for an overall good source for information!!!