This is a long story that I’m going to try to keep as brief as possible. My question is…is there something that can be done here? Lodge a complaint? Sue? I’m not a sue-happy (nor really even sue-interested) person, but this has so pissed me off that I want something done about it.
The story, told as briefly as I can in list form:
[ul][li]I get a job 65 miles away from the dentist of my teen years, a man I’ve long trusted (as has my family). Due to new insurance limitations, I switch to a local dentist. [/li]
[li]This doesn’t directly relate to the events that have pissed me off most, but it is of note: I first went to this dentist because of a tooth that’d been sensitive since biting down on a popcorn kernal. They said it was cracked–though no crack was visible on the X-ray (they told me that)–and I went in for a root canal. The root canal was crappily done and left me with a poorly fitting crown, causing near daily pain, and possibly permanent nerve damage that they told me just happens sometimes.[/li]
[li]I go in for a cleaning a year ago. They tell me I have a small cavity. I schedule for it to be filled, telling them from the get-go I want the silver filling, not the porcelein, as the difference is about $300 for me.[/li]
[li]I arrive for my filling and remind them again I do not want the white filling. They look stunned and write it down in my file.[/li]
[li]I’m sitting IN THE FRICKIN’ CHAIR WITH A HOLE DRILLED IN MY TOOTH and the dentist is trying to mix the porcelein to match my tooth color. I again say, “HEY! I don’t want that, I want the regular silver filling! I don’t want to pay extra.” The dentist seems irked, the assistant embarrassed, saying it was her fault she didn’t check my file ( :smack: ). Then they kept saying “What a shame” it was I wasn’t getting the white filling. Yeah, right. I already have a mouth full of silver–what the hell does it matter if one more tooth has an itty bit in it?[/li]
Now the part that REALLY has me pissed.
[li]Aggravated beyond words with these, and many other examples, of their shitty service (and the uncomfortable feeling that they just want to get as much money out of me as possible), I switch to more expensive insurance that allows me to go to my childhood dentist.[/li]
[li]I saw my wonderful dentist last month. I had not one, but FIVE cavities. These things all popped up in a year?! I don’t think so. Cavities have always been slow progressing for me.[/li]
[li]Had 3 of those cavities filled Monday. Two were so huge and deep that they were borderline root canals–he said if we’d waited a month or so longer, and they would’ve been. He showed me with a mirror just how huge they were.[/li]
[li]Stunned, I wondered allowed how on earth such massive things could be missed by my previous dentist. My dentist postulated that the only thing he’s ever figured about this (he’s seen this very often with these types of cavities–ones that appear under older fillings) is that “they want them to become root canals because it’s more money for them.”[/ul][/li]Granted, that’s his untested hypothesis, but I’ve been burning since he said that. When I got home and told the hubby (who’d seen the same incompetent ass and still is convinced his teeth need more work than they gave), we immediately made an appointment for him to see my dentist. If we find his mouth is a mess, we’re both going to go apeshit.
I really want to get my hands on my x-rays at the old place–if they show the cavities were there then, I want their money-grubbing, incompetent, assholic selves punished. I’m not looking for money, I’m looking to let the world know what JERKS work in this office and how NO ONE should trust their teeth to them.
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!
[sub]<deep breath>[/sub]
Soooooooooo…what actions, if any, can I take?
