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Six and a Half Hours In Hell
Jan. 31st, 2019 12:18 amSeven months ago I went to a new dentist. I needed two root canals and crowns. The first one went smoothly; it was a computer-created crown, made right there in the office. It felt great, very much like the original tooth.
A couple of weeks later I went back for the second crown. The dentist who had done the first tooth no longer worked there. Instead they had a new guy. But he was very different.
He kept me in the chair for six and a half hours. Three times the Novocaine wore off and had to be re-injected. Over and over he told me to close my teeth, even when I kept telling him that my cheek was swollen and in the way. He demanded I close my teeth on my cheek until the blood was flowing freely. And he mangled my crown and the tooth behind it, which didn't need work to begin with. I ended up with a massive cheek infection that lasted for two weeks even with antibiotics. Don't forget, I am a very nervous dental patient!
And then he charged me extra for fixing the damage he did to the tooth behind the crown - the one that hadn't needed work at all.
I had decided not to go back. But when I saw my endodontist last week, I told her and her receptionist about what had happened. To my surprise, I got a call from her receptionist on Friday. Short version: that dentist got fired. Apparently he mangled a lot of other people, too. And some of them, unlike me, complained about it. The funniest thing was that it turns out that he was a prison dentist for twenty years! So I guess he was used to working on people who couldn't complain.
So now I can honestly say that I've spent six and a half hours being tortured by a prison dentist.
A couple of weeks later I went back for the second crown. The dentist who had done the first tooth no longer worked there. Instead they had a new guy. But he was very different.
He kept me in the chair for six and a half hours. Three times the Novocaine wore off and had to be re-injected. Over and over he told me to close my teeth, even when I kept telling him that my cheek was swollen and in the way. He demanded I close my teeth on my cheek until the blood was flowing freely. And he mangled my crown and the tooth behind it, which didn't need work to begin with. I ended up with a massive cheek infection that lasted for two weeks even with antibiotics. Don't forget, I am a very nervous dental patient!
And then he charged me extra for fixing the damage he did to the tooth behind the crown - the one that hadn't needed work at all.
I had decided not to go back. But when I saw my endodontist last week, I told her and her receptionist about what had happened. To my surprise, I got a call from her receptionist on Friday. Short version: that dentist got fired. Apparently he mangled a lot of other people, too. And some of them, unlike me, complained about it. The funniest thing was that it turns out that he was a prison dentist for twenty years! So I guess he was used to working on people who couldn't complain.
So now I can honestly say that I've spent six and a half hours being tortured by a prison dentist.
