Wednesday, December 21, 2005

The dentist

Not my favorite guy. I've been going to Dr. B for 15ish years. It's safe to say he 'knows my teeth' seeing as there are 7 in my family who see him, and 5 of us have crappy teeth. Since he bought some land, built an office building, and expanded his practice, he's had another dentist helping out. In the 5 or 6 years since it's been like that, he's had maybe 3 or 4 different dentists. Either he's not picking good people or he's training them so well, they want to go start their own practice.

Back in late spring, early summer it was determined I had a fractured tooth and needed a crown. I personally could pinpoint that tooth fracturing, back to when I had a cavity filled in it. It got really hot while the dentist (not Dr B, but one of the 'others') was drilling, then it hurt like a motherfucker. I called back the next day when it still hurt, and the hygentist I talked with said it sounded like a fracture. Surprise surprise, nothing was found. 3 or 4 months later I go back for my normal cleaning, say it's still hurting ect, and NOW it's determined it's fractured.

At this point they advise for the 3/4 gold crown, and I get it. That was a huge ordeal that ended up taking 3 weeks instead of 2 weeks to have finished, and it was just horrible. The month afterwards I still had incredible sensitivity in that area, top and bottom. Finally had Dr B adjust the bite or something, and it was okay.

Now, 6ish months later, I still have sensitivity in the area. It doesn't kill like it used to, but if I eat sugary foods, and it gets up in that area, I had to quickly jam a finger nail and dig whatever crap is hurting, out. It's really attractive. Yesterday I had my normal cleaning, yearly x-rays, and dentist checkup. The Dr that did the crown, Dr O, is no longer there. She had a baby in May and didn't come back. Dr F did the exam instead, and he was awesome. Discovered I need another crown, and have like 3 or 4 cavities. Oh Joy.

Today Jake had his first visit at the dentist. He did so well :) They had me come back and talk for a moment when they were finished with him. Dr F showed me the x-rays they took the day before, and now I have a cavity on the side of the 2 teeth on each side of the crown. As I understand it, these cavities occur when some of the enamel is accidentally shaved off, which they assume happened during the crown being placed. They say Dr O is responsible, and are sending a letter to her, with the x-rays, stating that.

Dr B called me later in the morning to reiterate what Dr F told me this morning, and to infer some stuff. Turns out that yes, Dr O is still working, just that she's NOT coming back to his office. Apparently she's fucked up before. He also hinted around that if she doesn't think she's at fault, or that she insists that she fix it, I don't have to, and she's legally responsible. Have I said how much I hate confrontation? I'm a great shit talker, but run hiding over nothing.

Hopefully Dr O will agree she fucked up, and when I go in for her to verify that, she'll not make me feel uncomfortable, or ask me to sign anything. She'll simply agree that yes she's pay for Dr B or Dr F to fix it. I'm hoping none of this will even come up for a couple of weeks. I don't want to worry about it right now...

Holy shit that's all long and rambly. Sorry! ;)

6 comments:

mamatulip said...

Dude that sounds like a total nightmare. Good luck with all of that and I hope your tooth stops aching. It made my sensitive area throb just reading about it.

Mary said...

Thanks Kath!

Janet the only reason why I'd need to see Dr O is if she wants to see my teeth to verify or something. If and When she calls me to discuss it, I'll just say I want Dr B to do it, and put the ball in her court. I can be bitchy over the phone if I have to be ;)

mamatulip said...

I agree with Janet -- and if Dr. O wants to see your teeth to verify anything then have your current dentist take x-rays to send to her, or have him send your most recent x-rays to her. Good luck!

Mary said...

Kath they are sending copies from my x-rays yesterday. Even my very newly trained eye could desern the dark spots, and i'm not even used to looking at teeth....I'm really really really really hoping she'll just say oh okay, and Dr B or F can do it.

I don't want to get all bitchy to Dr B, because he's assuming Dr O will admit her mistake.

The biggest thing for me, is I don't have dental insurance, so I need to make sure Dr O takes care of it completely, which she is obligated to. Good thing a close family friend is a lawyer who loves to write convincing letters for anyone and everyone ;)

Tink said...

Good lord. You poor thing! Your mouth is such a tender area anyway. It's in your face, so you can't exactly ignore the pain. I hope everything turns out OK.

Mary said...

Thanks Tink! Really, I'm just a huge wimp with sensitive teeth. Sometimes I think I just want all of my teeth pulled and to have dentures, but something tells me that's not very attractive in a 25 yr old.... ;)

 

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