I had never had a bad experience at the dentist until recently. I’ve heard of these type of stories. I needed one filling and one dental crown. I was in the dental chair for over two hours. First, he nicks my lip with with one of his dental tools. In fact, he nicked it so badly that it bled. Then, he kept putting his finger on it during the procedure and causing to bleed over and over. Next, while he is busy drilling on a molar, he slips and cuts the underside of my tongue. His assistant gasped, but he acted like it was no big deal. I’m thinking he slipped because everything was slick with the blood he kept causing by pressing on my cut. I am in a lot of pain and sent him a picture of my tongue which is damaged and swollen. His response was the patients bite their tongues all the time during dental work. This really frustrated me. Now I want an apology and maybe a discount on my procedure. Is there any possibility of getting that? I’ve never been afraid of going to the dentist before this. Now, I’m sort of afraid to go back.
David
Dear David,
I am sorry this happened to you. While you do deserve an apology, it doesn’t look like you are going to get one. I doubt you’ll get a discount either. Your dentist is in a defensive position. I’m not sure you are going to be able to prove he is at fault without his assistant testifying on your behalf. That would put her job at risk, which means she is unlikely to do help.
You can talk to him about leaving a bad review, which will have an impact on his business. However, if he doesn’t care there won’t be much you can do other than that. Obviously, this isn’t someone I would consider the best dentist. So you’ll want to find another one.
Dental Anxiety
One thing I want to address is the potential for you to struggle with dental anxiety after your experience. It is perfectly natural for you to feel uncomfortable about going back to the dentist. I don’t want you to spend your life afraid or to avoid the dentist, which will have a negative impact on your oral health.
One easy way to have an appointment that won’t make you anxious is to see a sedation dentist. They can provide you with a medication that will put you completely at ease, giving you an anxiety-free as well as pain free dental appointment. As you are probably looking for a new dentist now anyway, this would be a good time to make the switch.
This blog is brought to you by Libertyville Dentist Dr. David Potts.