# My Dentist Screw Up: Understandable, or Incompetent? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 11, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dentist-screw-up-understandable-or-incompetent/609183 "2012-01-11T18:05:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dentist-screw-up-understandable-or-incompetent/609183/21 "2012-01-11T22:46:06Z")
> [@Al\_Bundy](#): > > I have a ton of dental work to use as experience. Whenever work is completer, the hygienist always runs floss around the tooth to clean it and be sure it can be cleaned properly at home. This procedure has held true over multiple dentists. Failure to do that was error #2. (Error #1 was incorrectly packing the filling to begin with.) Failure #3 was not recognizing the mistake when you told him. “A loss quickly taken is half a gain” said some old financial guru. > > The dentist had the tools and expertise to make this situation right on the second visit. Oh, yeah, I forgot to comment on the OP - I agree with this completely. They shouldn’t have sent you home with such shoddy work, and I would also change dentists. Fillings is about the simplest things they do, and if they’re mucking that up… ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dentist-screw-up-understandable-or-incompetent/609183/22 "2012-01-12T01:14:56Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > Cite? Because that assumption seems completely unjustified. Okay, citation forthcoming as soon as my statement is published in a scientific journal rather than an opinions forum. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dentist-screw-up-understandable-or-incompetent/609183/23 "2012-01-12T01:22:08Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > Okay, citation forthcoming as soon as my statement is published in a scientific journal rather than an opinions forum. Heh - it looks like you’re fitting in here just fine. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dentist-screw-up-understandable-or-incompetent/609183/24 "2012-01-12T01:34:07Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > Okay, citation forthcoming as soon as my statement is published in a scientific journal rather than an opinions forum. So it’s unjustified. Got it. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dentist-screw-up-understandable-or-incompetent/609183/25 "2012-01-12T01:44:51Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I’m actually glad to hear about your crown problem - I have four crowns, and three of them are lovely and look just like my real teeth - the fourth is weird and bulbous, and I have never liked it. I’m glad to hear that its possible to get a bad casting - I know they make the crowns from impressions from your own mouth, so I have never understood why this one crown just doesn’t feel like it belongs in my mouth. Dentists are usually willing to work with you on replacing crowns, since the casting isn’t actually done by them, but by another company. So that company has to absorb the cost of that – the dentist only has to absorb the cost of his work in doing it a second time. But a really good dentist will actually be the one to notice a bad casting – they see it before you do, and they see lots of crowns. My dentist once noticed one when installing it, before it was even glued in. He made several tries to adjust it, and then reluctantly told me “I don’t think we’re going to be able to use this crown, we should send it back to the lab and have them make a new one. But that means you wearing a temporary for 2 more weeks, and then coming back again. Do you want to do that?” And I didn’t pay anything more for that additional work. Which seems right to me. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dentist-screw-up-understandable-or-incompetent/609183/26 "2012-01-12T02:17:16Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > So it’s unjustified. Got it. Can you provide some evidence to back up your statement? ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dentist-screw-up-understandable-or-incompetent/609183/27 "2012-01-12T20:48:22Z")
Based on the facts presented, this sounds like clear error on the part of the dentist. If s/he refuses to correct the problem for free (or at a heavy discount, say 75%), I would go to another dentist to have the work fixed. I would also **seriously** consider suing the original dentist in small claims court for the cost of getting it fixed. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dentist-screw-up-understandable-or-incompetent/609183/28 "2012-01-12T22:06:56Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > Can you provide some evidence to back up your statement? Your evasiveness is my cite. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dentist-screw-up-understandable-or-incompetent/609183/29 "2012-01-13T09:06:10Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Heh - it looks like you’re fitting in here just fine. 🙂 Only in the sense that there are a lot of other people who won’t admit when they messed up and instead attack the person who pointed it out. Either the guy asserted a fact, which he needs to back up, or he just insulted all dentists in a short post that shows almost no thought. It’s not even like he has to cite a journal–he could just provide some sort of anecdote that explains why he distrusts dentists. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dentist-screw-up-understandable-or-incompetent/609183/30 "2012-01-13T17:33:39Z")
I don’t see a screw up by the dentist here (except possibly leaving a little of the filling sticking out so you couldn’t floss, which he fixed). If he didn’t guarantee the life of the filling, that’s the breaks. Although after a year he should offer you some sort of deal on a repair just to promote good will. IANA dentist, but I have extensive experience being on the recieving end, and I would recommend you have a crown placed on that tooth. ---
**Author:** ![Zulema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/db5fbb/32.png) [@Zulema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulema)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dentist-screw-up-understandable-or-incompetent/609183/31 "2012-01-13T17:46:43Z")
I think he should have taken an xray of the filled tooth when you went in saying some of the filling fell out. His thinking was probably that a portion of the not visible filling couldn’t have fallen out because there is no room between your teeth for this to happen. When he said to you that it was only flash,\* if you were certain \*that there was too much filling for this to be the case, you should have spoken up. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dentist-screw-up-understandable-or-incompetent/609183/32 "2012-01-13T17:59:49Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Daddy asked him flat out: “Can’t you just pull the tooth?” > > The AF dentist shook his head. “No. The canine teeth are important to the whole shape of the face. I know it is a huge expense, but if you can do it, orthodontia is really the best solution.” Yep, my dentist told me the same when I was a kid and my canine came in on top of my milk tooth, being pushed outwards by the obstructing tooth. I never got orthodontia, but the dentist strongly advised against removing the canine. So now it looks like I have a fang on one side. That said, I kind of like it. Will make my remains a bit easier to identify. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dentist-screw-up-understandable-or-incompetent/609183.md?page=1)