My wife recently had a crown done by her dentist. This is a new dentist again because we have both switched jobs and our new plans do not cover the old dentists. They not only did a new crown but they had another dentist do a root canal which I believe was incomplete when she had the first one done. It was not bothering my wife but they said there was some sort of an infection and it need to be done again. We were told this by two different dentists so we believed it. She had her last crown for over 10 plus years. She had the partial root canal done and went back to the original dentist to have the crown put in. My wife came home almost in tears. You should have seen the size of the brick they placed in her mouth. It was just a rectangular thing that looked nothing close to what she had before and it was way too big for her mouth or the space it was in. She said should would have complained on the spot but she had been in their office for 5 hours and she was exhausted and her jaw was hurting. By the way, the dentist who was scheduled to do the crown decided at the last moment on the day of the procedure that she was not going to the office. My wife was adamant about having her dentist do the procedure since she was not comfortable with the other person who she did not know nor who she believe knew all that was needed to be known about her case. Her dentist eventually decided to show up since she lived nearby.

   Last night my wife was sitting in front of the TV when suddenly she spat out the crown. It just came off without anything being in her mouth. We were both shocked by this because it was only a couple of months ago she had it set. We called their emergency service because neither of us knew if this would cause any infections over night. They assured us things would be fine and my wife should go to their office the next day.

   She went to their office today and now they are telling her that the crown was too small and she is going to need a bridge instead. They are offering to refund the cost of the crown but that is not going to cover enough. We have also paid several hundred dollars out of our own pocket on top of her yearly allotted coverage. My wife has pretty much used up all of this year's benefits. They are also in a pipe dream because they mention they are going to try and get the root canal specialist to also refund the money. Ok, I say good luck with that.

   I have called the insurance company and our two options are having the dentist office work things out with us or filing a complaint with the insurance company who will investigate the case. Of course, my understanding is this may not get resolved as expeditiously as is needed. So, what I would like to know is what other actions can be taken to resolved this issue? I believe they caused this problem so they should fix it at a cost to them.

   I have sent out some emails to family and friends to see if they have a dentist they trust who does good work. I am doing searches to see if there are any legal options but I have not found anything solid. By the way, after the first crown they had her sign something(I do not have a copy) which I believe said something along the lines of that was the last time they would deal with or fix the crown. That sounded very shady to me when my wife told me this and I wish I had been there with her. She is from Argentina where health care is awesome and problem free. I stay healthy so I do not have to deal with the stresses associated with dealing with people who do not take pride in their work and are all about money. Forgive me for ranting but I feel better when I let it be known.

   If you know any good, trusted dentists who take pride in their work in the Sarasota, Florida area please let us know.

 

Thank you,

Dodson Byam