Dentist numbed wrong tooth- do I complain?

[Lilyflame]

Went to private dentist.
already had consultation
cracked lower tooth
dentist was going to drill out filling (already half drilled out) check the crack/root/nerve.
first injection he did at the back,
second one I couldn’t really feel, third one I felt at upper gum.
so I asked wasn’t he going to numb the bottom.
he went very quiet, checked his notes, then apologised.
he got the wrong tooth! If I hadn’t said anything I think he’d have drilled the top tooth.
he got on with the job, apologised again and gave me a discount.
but I just don’t understand how this can happen.
the tooth had a big hole in it, already half drilled out.
Should I make a formal complaint?

No you shouldn't
No harm was done, he apologised and gave you a discount.

What's the point of the complaint? He numbed the correct tooth and didn't charge for the extra anaesthetic.

People make mistakes, it's not like he damaged a healthy tooth.

If you complain I can never go back there. Your comfort is in their hands

A dentist once injected in the wrong place and froze my whole face including eyelid.

But he would have if I hadn’t told him

I'm pretty sure dentists check that you are fully numbed before drilling away (or at least that's my experience).

He would have checked if you could feel anything before he started.

YABU.

He was going to operate on a numbed tooth, but it was the wrong one.

But you did so nothing happened

But he didn't because you told him

This is such a non-event.

Maybe I didn’t explain it right .
he thought he was operating on a completely different tooth.
even though I’d had a consultation, X-rays, all my notes.
he started to operate on the upper tooth, not the cracked one on the bottom

No. The dentist has already acknowledged the error, apologised, given you a discount and will have certainly learned from the mistake.

But he didn't start to operate - he just numbed the wrong area, you mentioned it and he fixed the problem.

I'm not sure what else you want from this?

Wrong site surgery or local anaesthetic injection represents unsafe practice or potentially a lack of checks beforehand regarding the site and the tooth to be extracted.

If this had occurred in a hospital it would result in a fairly significant investigation.

I think a concern definitely needs to be raised and the practice need to reflect on how they are identifying the site of surgery.

Thank you cloudsky
i thought I was going a bit crazy then. It seems like a very serious issue to me

But you felt the injection going into the upper gum, so he didn’t ‘start to operate’ really, did he?
mistakes do happen, the dentist probably won’t make that one again.

YABU. It's not going to do you any good making more of it unless you want to find another dentist

That's pretty bad. What if you didn't say anythjng !

I'm not sure what else you want from this?

For the dental practice to review what nearly happened (but for OP’s intervention) in order to set a protocol for avoiding this sort of mistake in the future.

In a good hospital procedure on the body for example, they keep checking facts and make a mark with felt tip well in advance on the operation site while checking again with the patient.

Exactly.

They must check again and again.

I think you should report this as a Near Miss, so that the practice can review their procedures.

You could always ask your dentist about it, and ask what action has been taken to prevent it happening again.

Mistake reporting and reviewing should be transparent and honest. The point of reporting isn't to get someone into trouble, it's to try to prevent the mistake happening again.

Why do you ask if you are “being unreasonable” if you only agree with people that echo your concern 🤣
the majority of the replies are saying get over it
the Dentist is a human, I hope you have never made a mistake before 🙂

I was answering questions, not really agreeing with people and I didn’t think I’d explained it properly as I thought it was very serious and someone said it was a non event

Its a very near miss.

In the NHS this would go down as a wrong site surgery / procedure, which is a 'never event' one of the most serious clinical incidents.

My registrar injected the wrong toe while I was completing some documentation, as a result, many meetings and a change in processes.

I would raise it- not really in a full on complaint way, but more to say you want to flag it- and to ensure the practice takes this seriously and looks at their procedure for double checking they are working on the correct tooth. No harm done in your case, but had he started drilling a perfectly healthy tooth, it wouldn’t have stayed healthy for long. The dentist shouldn’t assume the patient will be aware of which tooth they are working on- especially when a bit stressed and worried about the pain, I know I tend to try and focus on other thoughts at the dentist and could easily not click they had numbed the wrong tooth. Lucky that in your case he numbed an upper tooth so it was more obvious to you- if it had been the next door tooth it would have been harder for you to tell.