Irate doesn't begin to describe me right now (tooth related)

[aurorahorse]

Originally Posted by warcraftbaby What did you have done after you had the tooth pulled? If this had been a back tooth I would've told her to just pull the sucker to begin with. But I didn't really understand what crowns were and I thought they would be better than those false permanents they screw into your gums. I want to have one of those put in but I doubt I can afford that no matter what I do. Something has to be done because this is a front tooth and you can see the tooth is missing when I talk or smile or anything. I'm gonna be stuck like this for weeks probably until I can get finances+find a dentist to fix it. I live in IA Corismom. KS is a bit far for me, but we do have a dental school up in IA city. If I can't find anything affordable locally I'll go there, but they are impossible to get into because I think everyone goes there now instead of the "real" dentists because all the "real" ones are full of fail! I have switched so many times for bad fillings that fell out, missing cavities that the new dentist could see like a blinking sign, etc. The one that did the crown got a reputation not too shortly after my ordeal as "Dr. Bimbo" because apparently she screwed up work on a lot of people and now we're all pretty sure she has no idea what she's doing and we have no idea how she passed dental school

Well...I opted to do nothing other than have what little was left of the tooth (mainly roots) removed, for many reasons. 1) It's a back molar. 2) I'm diabetic, so not the best idea to be doing stuff to my gums if we can help it. 3) A bridge would involve filing down the teeth on either side...my teeth are horrible as it is so don't want to go filing them down if I can help it. 4) It's expensive.

I'm not sure if I made the right decision, as I can feel that the hole is widening. I'm trying to remember to take calcium, etc, to help with that. My dentist hasn't brought it up since, so I assume things are okay...for now. :)

It's going to be much harder for you, since it's a front tooth.

If too much of it is gone, you may not want to have it done again...may be better in long run to have an implant done. G'luck...I know it's a hard decision!

And for pp...yeah, one of the freakiest things I've ever had is biting into something and realizing my tooth fell out. :hectic1:

[warcraftbaby]

Originally Posted by kittensqueak Please see a prosthodontist, not a general dentist. They specailize in crowns, restorations, ect. Your "best fix" will be with them.

I'm going with what we can afford at the moment. This dentist has a sliding scale so for her to look at it is only going to cost $24-$35. My husband is laid off right now, and he wants to just get super glue and stick the post back in the hole with that He's not happy with the amount I'm going to be paying at the regular dentist on a sliding scale.

Plus the nearest prosthodontist is over 4 hours away from us. I'm already relying on my mom to take me the 30 mins to the regular dentist because my car can't be driven on the highway.

[warcraftbaby]

Originally Posted by aurorahorse Well...I opted to do nothing other than have what little was left of the tooth (mainly roots) removed, for many reasons. 1) It's a back molar. 2) I'm diabetic, so not the best idea to be doing stuff to my gums if we can help it. 3) A bridge would involve filing down the teeth on either side...my teeth are horrible as it is so don't want to go filing them down if I can help it. 4) It's expensive. I'm not sure if I made the right decision, as I can feel that the hole is widening. I'm trying to remember to take calcium, etc, to help with that. My dentist hasn't brought it up since, so I assume things are okay...for now. :) It's going to be much harder for you, since it's a front tooth. If too much of it is gone, you may not want to have it done again...may be better in long run to have an implant done. G'luck...I know it's a hard decision! And for pp...yeah, one of the freakiest things I've ever had is biting into something and realizing my tooth fell out. :hectic1:

When things pick up again I'd like to have all 3 crowns removed and implants put in. I had the option of implants at the beginning and wow I sooooo wish I had gone with them! This happens to any other teeth I'm going with implants all the way. My friend has one and it has never given her a bit of trouble; she can't even tell which one it was anymore!

It is one of the freakiest feelings to have one fall out. This time I wasn't even shocked tho It's incredibly difficult to eat now tho because that whole gum area where it was is inflamed and sore and I'm guessing it's going to get infected. I can't believe how much metal was exposed and rubbing into my gums! Plus side, maybe I'll lose some weight because it hurts to eat anything

[Simply_Me]

The bare metal inside the fake tooth stuff was actually exposed in the back this whole time, and my gum back there is bleeding and raw from it

Umm I know a lot about crowns,and that isn't supposed to be exposed the crown itself is supposed to cover the metal part up.

She told me I could eat like normal with crowns, but I didn't listen to that.

She's wrong about this there are sooo many things you are not supposed to eat with crowns . For example you are not supposed to bite into an apple , eat carmel, bite a lolli pop ect.

But I don't think another dentist will touch this, I've heard dentists won't touch other dentist's work.

This is mostly true,but if you explain to the destist you are going to call that the other doesn't take payments,and lied to you about crowns they will more likely help you.

[warcraftbaby]

Originally Posted by Simply_Me Umm I know a lot about crowns,and that isn't supposed to be exposed the crown itself is supposed to cover the metal part up. Indeed. I guess when she put the post in last time she drilled off some of the porcelain coating the metal. This was all in the back of the crown so I didn't even see it until it fell out, but it's been rubbing the gums where the metal was exposed and it's really raw and painful right now. I remember when it fell off the first two times, it did not look like this. There was no metal exposed, just porcelain. So something happened when she put the post in it. She's wrong about this there are sooo many things you are not supposed to eat with crowns . For example you are not supposed to bite into an apple , eat carmel, bite a lolli pop ect. That's why I didn't listen to her! I didn't eat anything that required heavy bite force like apples, corn on the cob, hard candies, etc. I don't eat caramel or taffy or anything sticky for the same reason. Yet it still falls out. This is mostly true,but if you explain to the destist you are going to call that the other doesn't take payments,and lied to you about crowns they will more likely help you. I didn't explain to the new dentist office on the phone what all has happened except that I had my crown+post fall out and I needed something to be done. I'm not sure how much I should explain. I know that complaining to much about one health professional to another health profession can leave your current health professional feeling very wary of working with you. Kinda like how those who are sue-happy often get black-listed for anything high risk. Word gets around in these medical communities. So I think I'm going to go with just a bare bones factual explanation, trying to leave out any emotion so that she knows I just want this problem fixed, I'm not there to rant on Dr. Bimbo lol.

.

[aurorahorse]

If there is enough of the other teeth left, I'd put a crown on. It's when it gets down to where there isn't much above the gum line left that you need to get it pulled and get an implant. If I had only known then....I think they are like $3k or more, though.

FTR, I have a gold crown on the my other side (same exact molar, but opposite side of mouth), and I was never told about any restrictions. I like my new dentist...she's awesome! She worked with me on my fears and when I asked about a new crown, she said gold. She even showed me hers. lol Anyway, I haven't had a lick of trouble with it. (Yes, that crown was also replaced by the same dentist who did the tooth that fell out....ugh.)

[warcraftbaby]

Well folks here goes. Today was my "emergency" appt (they have you sign a paper at this office that you will NOT receive any work at an emergency appt, um isn't that what an emergency is? I dunno I just found that funny but I do understand why they have the policy! They also have one that if you're more than 10 mins late, your appt is canceled and if you're late more than twice they eliminate you as a patient!) I *love* this dentist, it only cost me $24 for the exam on their sliding scale. The bad news? The original root canal, the part BEFORE the crown, was not completed. Root was left in there by accident. So the tooth has been infected for quite some time now and I had to go get antibiotics and painkillers ($17 for that on generics) for that (she tried to stick the post back in the core, you wanna talk about pain YOWCH!)

I have to go to an endodontist 3 hours from here to get the root canal redone and to get the core that the post goes into redone. And unfortunately, this place doesn't operate on sliding scale. We have to pay $590. Holy. @#$%. That's almost 2 month's rent for us. Also if my mom can't get off that day to take me, we have to use my hubby's truck (my car isn't highway safe) which gets 10 miles to the gallon. So I'm guessing at least $50 in gas in addition to this. But at least I can go back to the sliding scale dentist to get the crown+post reinserted and cemented but still that will probably be another $50.

Now this is only *if* the tooth is salvageable. She said that for 5% of people root canals don't work, and if that is what happened here then the whole thing has to come out. That means an implant which is more like in the $1k+ range If I am not in that 5% then the oral surgeon that did the original root canal farked it up and that's why I'm at where I am now. I'm guessing door #2 is what happened. He's retired now so it's not like I can put marks on his license I'm also wondering why Dr. Bimbo couldn't see this on the x-rays she took after the original root canals. The dentist today showed me the x-rays and I could see the root left in there, so I'm pretty sure any dentist should've been able to.

Anyways, this whole fiasco is going to cost us at least $731, if there are no other snafus. Holy cats if I am one of those 5% my brain will just snap in two because that will be another $1k worth of work. This came at a really, really awful time (doesn't this crap always happen at the worst possible time? Seriously what next???) Ugh I'm just going to start reorganizing the entire apartment tomorrow to cheer myself up. Hey at least that's free

[justmeagain]

did you get your money back from dr. bimbo?

[warcraftbaby]

Originally Posted by justmeagain did you get your money back from dr. bimbo?

No I'm not sure who is even to blame at this point and if I could get this new dentist to say anything on paper or otherwise to really help me. If this is not a case of me being in that 5%, then it is primarily the fault of the oral surgeon, who is now retired. And then it would also be the fault of Dr. Bimbo (would be even if I am in the 5%) for not recognizing on at least TWO separate x-rays (I know she took an x-ray after the root canals and when the crown fell off the second time, not sure if she took one when it came off the very first time) that the root had not been removed as it should have been. See Dr. Bimbo referred me to the oral surgeon that performed the procedure, so either she is completely blind and could not see that root on an x-ray, or she did and covered it up for her colleague. So yea Dr. Bimbo did screw me over either way, but I have neither the money nor the intelligence (yep I am admitting I am a complete nitwit) to go after her. I can figure out how to get my money back on a bad pizza, botched dental procedure not so much

[aurorahorse]

Originally Posted by warcraftbaby Well folks here goes. Today was my "emergency" appt (they have you sign a paper at this office that you will NOT receive any work at an emergency appt, um isn't that what an emergency is? I dunno I just found that funny but I do understand why they have the policy! They also have one that if you're more than 10 mins late, your appt is canceled and if you're late more than twice they eliminate you as a patient!) I *love* this dentist, it only cost me $24 for the exam on their sliding scale. The bad news? The original root canal, the part BEFORE the crown, was not completed. Root was left in there by accident. So the tooth has been infected for quite some time now and I had to go get antibiotics and painkillers ($17 for that on generics) for that (she tried to stick the post back in the core, you wanna talk about pain YOWCH!) I have to go to an endodontist 3 hours from here to get the root canal redone and to get the core that the post goes into redone. And unfortunately, this place doesn't operate on sliding scale. We have to pay $590. Holy. @#$%. That's almost 2 month's rent for us. Also if my mom can't get off that day to take me, we have to use my hubby's truck (my car isn't highway safe) which gets 10 miles to the gallon. So I'm guessing at least $50 in gas in addition to this. But at least I can go back to the sliding scale dentist to get the crown+post reinserted and cemented but still that will probably be another $50. Now this is only *if* the tooth is salvageable. She said that for 5% of people root canals don't work, and if that is what happened here then the whole thing has to come out. That means an implant which is more like in the $1k+ range If I am not in that 5% then the oral surgeon that did the original root canal farked it up and that's why I'm at where I am now. I'm guessing door #2 is what happened. He's retired now so it's not like I can put marks on his license I'm also wondering why Dr. Bimbo couldn't see this on the x-rays she took after the original root canals. The dentist today showed me the x-rays and I could see the root left in there, so I'm pretty sure any dentist should've been able to. Anyways, this whole fiasco is going to cost us at least $731, if there are no other snafus. Holy cats if I am one of those 5% my brain will just snap in two because that will be another $1k worth of work. This came at a really, really awful time (doesn't this crap always happen at the worst possible time? Seriously what next???) Ugh I'm just going to start reorganizing the entire apartment tomorrow to cheer myself up. Hey at least that's free

Been out of town, so just now saw this. Can you just go straight to the implant? Get the tooth out and do implant? I'd do that, believe me. It's "only" $250 more...I realize that is a lot, but things don't sound good....and I think it'd be better to just get the implant for $1k. If I could get it done that cheap, I'd have it done in a heartbeat. Good luck with whatever you decide!