Am I responsible

[husler100]

Hi there, I have a situation with my dentist and want to know if I am responsible for paying for treatment.

I joined the clinic about a year ago after moving and went for a check up. At that time my dentist told me one of my lower back molars was decaying and needed a filling. I let him do the work and insurance paid most of it, even though I had no pain in the tooth. However the following day I experience a sharp pain whenever I put pressure on the mezia lingual cusp or by simply using it to eat.

I went back to the dentist several times over the next few weeks and he adjusted the bite but to no avail. He then said that the pulp of the tooth may just be sensitive after the filling and I should wait for 6 months to see if it healed, and in the meantime refrain from eating on that side of my mouth. Hesitant I did just that but of course the pain continued. After roughly 6 months I returned for a checkup and the dentist said he thought it was fractured, also an X-ray could not confirm it. He re-did the filling but still did not fix it. In fact it began to become sensitive to hot and cold.

Unfortunately my dentist was in a car accident several days later and is no longer able to practice. His collegues have taken over and say I need a crown and a possible root canal as it is definitely fractured. The crown will be at a cost of $1060 (half paid by insurance) and I don;t know how much a root canal would be.

Am I responsible to pay for this even though my dentist fractured my tooth during the first filling and then made me wait 6 months in pain?

[SandraS1]

may be your dentist should have anaysed your oral health and see if there were some complications with that. forget about what happened. now you need is a specialist, a dentist who could really do you good. i have been through similar situation and i can understand how painful it is.

sandra

[68suezq]

oops also the dentist is not responsible for a tooth fracture.

[68suezq]

i also had a fractured tooth(my root had plit).it got worse after the root canal and had to pull it.you mite want to check on a implant.when your teeth are week alot of times the root canal wont lat long exspecialy a back tooth .i wasted a lot of money.also a regular dentist office should not do a back mollar.you need an endodonist.you have an extra canal that a regular dentist cant clean.  sue

[lynn117]

yes. since there is a certain uncertainty when it comes to medical procedures there is always a risk. fractures happen. most of the time it isnt anyones fault. the tooth is weak and its possible the tooth was already fractured since they dont show on xrays very often and the work just made it larger. even if the dentist is at fault you would have to prove it which is almost impossible. i have a fractured tooth that had a root canal and crown and still failed so even the additional work is not a sure fix.