Dentist Lied to Me About Porcelain Veneers
Posted by writeradmin
I went to my dentist for porcelain veneers. We’d discussed them in depth and I have emails with him calling them porcelain veneers. When he did the procedure, I noticed that he ground the teeth down pretty far. That should have been a red flag because he told me that there would be hardly any tooth structure removed. Then he put on the temporary veneers. Eventually I received the permanent ones. They have been one disaster after another. I have had two root canal treatments so far. When I went to get those, the endodontist told me that I didn’t have porcelain veneers, but rather dental crowns. I looked on his website and there is a clear distinction between the two procedures. They are even on two different pages on his site. Then, I had a tooth start hurting but my dentist said it wasn’t a problem and to give it time. Instead, that blew up into an infection and there was decay eating away at the tooth underneath the crown. It got so bad that the tooth had to be extracted. I have now had two root canals and lost a tooth. The endodontist believes the teeth ended up needing root canals because the dentist overcontoured the crowns. Is there any way I can recoup some of my money on this? I’ve had to pay for a lot more than this smile makeover disaster.
Jody
Dear Jody,
I feel fairly confident that you have a malpractice claim here. It would be one thing if your dentist regularly did porcelain crowns for veneers because he treated them the same, but it is obvious that he knew the difference. You have a couple of things going for you. First, his website shows he knows the difference. Second, he provided you with documentation that he was giving you porcelain veneers. This means that he gave you a procedure that you didn’t agree to. That is a unacceptable in dental ethics. You must always get patient approval before doing a procedure.
Second, you have an endodontist that has diagnosed even the procedure he did do, was done improperly. Over contouring your teeth has led to you needing root canal treatments as well as cost you a tooth. That tooth will also need to be replaced. I would take this information to an attorney and see if they’d be willing to take your case. If they do, make sure that they include the cost it will take you to replace your tooth. The best tooth replacement is a dental implant.
This blog is brought to you by gentle dentist Dr. Michelle Stillman.