I’m Not Sure She Should Trust This Dentist

Posted by writeradmin

Can you help me? I’m worried about something a dentist told me. I just moved to a new area and don’t have a regular dentist yet. However, I had a toothache and had to go see a dentist. I found one who called himself an emergency dentist and got in fairly quickly. He did an x-ray and said that he found a cavity in a tooth that already had a filling and said only 10% of the tooth is viable. He wants to extract the tooth and then place a dental implant. I’m not oppossed to doing what needs to be done, but I’ve never lost a tooth before. Is there any way to save this tooth?

Cassie

Dear Cassie,

I am glad you wrote. There is something very suspicious about what this dentist suggested. if this is the first time you started having the toothache, it is unlikely that the tooth is that far gone. Something like your dentist is suggesting would have been hurting for a few weeks.

Another red flag is that if a tooth were truly that far gone, he wouldn’t need an x-ray to tell him there was decay there. Neither would you for that matter. There would be a gapping hole in your tooth. In fact, it is very likely that the filling you do have would have fallen into the hole.

My suggestion to you is that you get a second opinion. When you do, make sure it is a blind second opinion. That means you don’t tell the second dentist who the first dentist is nor what he said about your tooth. The dental world is a small world. It is likely they know one another and he may not want to say anything to make his friend or colleague look bad. Just tell him or her that you’ve been having a toothache and you want to get his opinion on what is going on and how to treat it.

If the dentist asks who you saw and what they said, just tell him you want an unbiased opinion and you’re just trying to see if the diagnosis match. While a tooth infection is a dental emergency, I am having some doubts about this dentist.

I hope this helps. In the unlikely event that you do need to lose this tooth, a dental implant is a great tooth replacement, so he at least got that right. I just don’t want you getting one unnecessarily. Natural tooth structure is always preferred.

This blog is brought to you by Mt. Dora Dentist Dr. Michelle Stillman.