I’m really confused about my last dental appointment. I’ve always used dental sedation for anything more in-depth than a cleaning because of my anxiety. I have always had a decent relationship with my dentist and trusted him. I’d been away from the dentist for a couple of years because of difficult circumstances. I seemed to have developed a nasty cavity during that time. I went in to get my tooth prepared for a dental crown. Yet, when I woke up I discovered my tooth was pulled. They did this without asking me. Should I report him to the dental board? I feel like I should have been given a choice. Shouldn’t he have realized how bad it was from the x-rays? What do I do now?
Miranda
Dear Miranda,
I can tell you are frustrated and have a lot of questions so let’s go through this a bit at a time. Let’s start with what your dentist could have known. X-rays are wonderful tools, but they are 2 dimensional. Your teeth, however, are 3 dimensional. He may not have known how bad it was until he went in there to do the work.
You said you’d always had a good relationship with your dentist. If you’d always found him trustworthy it’s likely he’s still being trustworthy. It could be that the decay had gotten so far and an infection had taken root in such a way that leaving the tooth would have been dangerous for you. In that case, he would have been negligent to leave the tooth there. As for consent, It could be when you originally agreed to have the dental sedation you signed something giving permission for necessary work. There is no way to know that without looking at the paperwork.
Replacing Your Tooth
You have lots of options when it comes to replacing a lost tooth. The two best options are a dental implant and a dental bridge. A bridge requires the two adjacent teeth to be crowned. If those teeth need crowns, that would make sense. If they don’t, then you don’t want to remove healthy tooth structure if it can be helped.
A dental implant is the closest thing to having a healthy natural tooth in your mouth again. If you’re a candidate for this procedure, this would be my pick.
This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.