What to do? Shoddy dentist...

my husband has had a sore tooth for a while now and finally today a dentist came to the nursing post so he made an appointment and went in to have the tooth removed.

everything went well at first then the dentist tried to pull the tooth, Jeff said this took a long time and the dentist had to use all his weight to remove the tooth, before the tooth came loose Jeff heard a crack that sounded like it came from somewhere under his gum but not where the tooth was, then after the tooth was removed he felt the dentist trying to push something near where the tooth was, like he was trying to push something back in place.

when Jeff got home and the anaseptic wore off, the area under his tooth started to ache so he looked in the mirror and the gum around the missing tooth is out of place, like it's been wrenched out, it's really painful for him and compared to the other side of his mouth it's very noticable, when i had a tooth pulled the dentist said if he couldn't do it i'd have to go to hospital but it seems like this dentist just went ahead regardless of the consiquenses.

now Jeff's gum looks like it's dislocated and it's definately not just swollen, what can we do about this? it's also really painful and neither of us has had this type of thing happen before.

thanks

I think maybe you need to take him to the hospital for a check up and let them know what the dentist did.

Ouch. I am so sorry to hear about that. I would take him to the hospital and have them take a look at it. After you find out waht happened and all that you may think about a malpractice suit if it is needed.

Thanks guys,

he is thinking of going to the hospital, maybe they can put it back in place, i just feel so bad for him, he hates the dentist and i kept saying it would be okay then this happens

also, he never complains, something has to really scare or hurt him before he'll say anything...that's why i know it must be bad.

we live three hours away from a hospital though and it's not open at night.

what's a malpractice suit?

Malpractice suits are lawsuits against medical professionals that cause injury to their patients due to negligence. They are so common in the USA that healthcare is almost impossible to afford if you do not have insurance benefits on your job. Medical professionals insurance is so high that many of them are getting out of private practice because of it. People here will sue for the most ridiculous things. We actually have TV shows that settle small claims cases because the courts are clogged with them. I saw a show last week where one neighbor was suing another for 10 dollars. Then there was the case where a woman got 92 million dollars because she spilled hot coffee in her own lap and got burned. There was a case where a woman sued a gun manufacturer for her husband shooting himself with his own shotgun while hunting. He shot a duck, but only injured it. He used his very expensive shotgun as a club to finish off the duck, and it went off when he whacked the trigger on the side of the boat. This case was later overturned, but she had been awarded millions because her husband was an idiot. She ended up getting nothing.

Like I said if you believe that he was injured because the dentist was just doing his work even thugh there were obviously some problems and he caused damage to your hubby then a malpractice suit ( a lawsuit filed against a medical provider when damage is done when the provider was neglegent and continued with a procedure when there were complications that could have been prevented) may be in order. IMO your husband put his trust in this "dentist" and was injured and complications are not fallowing. He may lose his liscense to do dental work which is what needs to happen if you ask me. But in any case get him to the hospital.

Thanks guys,

he's going to get to a hospital as soon as he can, we both want to see how it goes first, i think the dentist should have refered him to a hospital if the tooth was too hard to remove but he pulled it anyway.

we will see what happens and how much damage was done first, it's hard to tell just buy looking at it....even though it does look pretty bad.

we probably won't do anything but at least the choice is there, if it is really bad maybe it would be a good idea so this dentist doesn't damage anyone else.

I hope that it is nothing serious, and will heal up well. sounds terribly painful.

YIKES! Sounds like your hubby ran into a really BAD dentist!
I hate going to the dentist also, it scares the poop right out of me! but I found a dentist that is fantastic and understands that I might freak now and again because I am terrified to be there. I've had nothing but bad experiences with dentists that's why I'm afriad of them.
I hope your hubby is ok. I'd get him to a doctor, sounds like this guy did a number on him and he might have dislocated something or even broken something, you can't be to careful ya know. I hope you sue the pants off that guy! He sounds like he needs his license taken away.

For Jeff's sake, I hope it isn't as bad as described after the hospital visit. That's scary.

Any updates???

Thanks guys,

it hasn't gotten much better, i emailed Jeff (because i don't see him before he leaves for work) and he said he wants to wait and see how it goes.....i'm certain he just doesn't want to take a day off work, he's such a workaholic....if it doesn't improve i know he will go to the hospital, he's going to the nursing post in a day or two to get it x-rayed, the hospital is about three hours away but the nursing post is in town, they are very basic but he should be able to get some idea about what's wrong with his gum.

at least then we will have some idea how bad it is, it really upset me because he hates dentists then this happens


thanks again


felicia

Yikes! poor guy! I hope that it just turns out he has a bruised jaw and nothing more.