Dentist broke my tooth and now blaming me!

[redbuttercupcake]

I went for a private dental appointment and met with a Dr who did a check up and an X-ray. She recommended I get a hygiene clean done.

So I had a hygiene appointment on 18 January. Another dr carried this out and did a really sh*t job. Basically water sprayed everywhere, my mouth was left wide open for over an hour and my teeth wasn't even clean.

On the same day asked for the main dr to call as I was unhappy with the treatment. The receptionist said she will call the next day but did not call. A week went by, she then called again and booked for 2 feb.

My teeth felt like it was going to come out and after looking closely, I noticed my front tooth was cracked.

On 2 feb saw the main dr and showed the broken tooth following hygiene appt. She argued about it and said it may have been there from before. And refusing to accept this was her team. I said bring out your X-rays as this would show if my tooth was cracked before the hygiene appointment. She refused to recheck the original X-ray. But then after much talking she then carried out a filling for the crack (a small part of the tooth actually fell out).

After I called back on 4 feb as I still have issues. They said the dr will call but no one called.

I called again on 7 February and the receptionist said she the main dr has Covid and another dr is abroad. So she will call in two weeks time.

I still have more pains and after paying for private dental care, I am so disheartened that this has happened. Please can you advise what I should do?

Well. A friend of mine is a dentist and she looked after someone once who after she put on latex gloves and touched his mouth said he’d recently being diagnosed with a latex allergy. So she changed gloves and did the filling. Man rang up the next day with a swollen lip. My friend thinks he bit his lip while it was numbed. He sued and her insurers settled for 8k. Thjs was 20 years ago.

So I think you could definitely get money to pay for the costs involved in your private treatment.

I had similar at a dentist once, he actually snapped the top of my front tooth in half during a checkup. He’d been really rough. He repaired it foc but looking back maybe I should have taken more action for compensation because chances are the repair isn’t going to last for ever and will cost me money.

How do you believe the dentist cracked your tooth? By cleaning it? Sounds rather implausible

Unfortunately for you there's at least a week between your x-ray and seeing the dentist again for a crack to have developed. It sounds like it would be very difficult to prove that they caused it.

It's impossible for hygiene instruments to crack your tooth unless there was already some sort of crack or damage there already. And cracks don't always show on xrays, in fact they rarely do.

Thanks for the advise. I was thinking of going to see another dentist for peace of mind and to understand what is actually happening.

@Luckyelephant1

It's impossible for hygiene instruments to crack your tooth unless there was already some sort of crack or damage there already. And cracks don't always show on xrays, in fact they rarely do.

This. It will be impossible to prove they caused it, which in all likelihood they didn't.

@turksturban

How do you believe the dentist cracked your tooth? By cleaning it? Sounds rather implausible

Well it was a clean and the crack came account after this. The crack is near the gum line

Im sorry but a hygienist would have not done this damage. (unless she smacked you in the mouth......................)

Did the hygienist punch you?

I've got crappy teeth and bits just fall off at random. If a piece fell off after a dental cleaning I would conclude that it would've happened anyway.

A dental hygienist clean will not cause a crack in a tooth. It must already have been there before the appointment. You cannot prove causation to this. Stop looking for someone to blame

A cleaning couldn’t crack a tooth

Oh, it's very sad to hear. You had such a bad experience. But in my experience, teeth cleaning does not crack teeth. I visit a dental hygienist twice a year to clean because my teeth stain pretty quickly, even with diligent home care. If you still have pain in those cracked teeth, you need to implant the affected teeth. It's better to consult a professional dentist and follow his opinion. Don't be worried about dental implantation. It's a simple procedure and a perfect remedy for cracked teeth. One year ago, I lost my front teeth in an accident, and I underwent dental implantation for my upper front teeth. It works like natural teeth, and I have had no problems with it till today. The best decision I have taken is to do implantation because it makes me confident and looks great.