Hi

I got a crown about a year ago and it really hurts!

My gums surrounding the crown hurts and the tooth itself hurts and the jawbone even hurts.

It feels like there is a lot of space next to the tooth that wasn't there before the crown was put in. It hurts to eat using that tooth (#4) and that basically renders the entire right side of my mouth useless.

I've had to dig food out from next to it, or now that I've read a little bit about it, maybe I am digging food out from under it which would explain why it's so hard to accomplish, using toothpicks, pieces of paper and dental floss which I never had to do before I got this crown.

I've been to a second dentist who saw on the X-ray that "the crown margin of the distal is not sealed".

My dental inurance company has denied the claim to replace it stating that they will only replace a crown once every 5 years. I have filed a grievance since this tooth had no problems before the crown was put on it. I had no idea they don't cover replacement work completed by incompetent dentists.

I really can't imagine living with this problem for 4 more years.

I wasn't able to deal with it sooner because I was dealing with some other major health issues. (Hence neurotalk... Specifically hypopituitarism caused by a concussion that took much debilitation and about 3 years to diagnose properly.)

I sincerely feel duped by the dentist who recommended that I get the crown in the first place and then applied it wrongly to boot.

And I think she even submitted the forms wrong to my insurance company and told them I had this crown done on a different date than I actually did.

Any information that can be offered as to what exactly it means that "the crown margin of the distal is not sealed", how I can get the insurance company to replace it (since it hurts so much), or what will happen if I don't fork over money out of pocket to replace it is greatly appreciated.

I have every intention of yelping and posting a review of said incompetent dentist as soon as I hear back from my submitted grievance.

Thanks!

Hi EsthersDoll,

I am in the dental field and can offer you some information here.

First and most importantly... do not wait to have this crown removed and the tooth evaluated. If the tooth is healthy then a new crown should be made. There is a good chance that the tooth has some decay and you may be developing a pocket in the area where the food gets trapped. If you wait, the tooth will become infected.

Secondly, most insurance policies will cover the cost of a replacement crown after a specific amount of time. In your case it is 5 years. I understand that you were dealing with health problems, but if you had gone back to the original dentist within a couple of weeks or even months after the placement of the crown complaining about food getting trapped and he did not redo the crown free of charge... then you would be able to submit a written request to the insurance that included that information asking for a reconsideration of benefits to replace this ill fitting crown. However, after a year, the insurance is most likely not going to do much for you

As for the second dentist making the statement... <<the distal margin of the crown not being sealed>>.... this could mean that on the x-ray there appears to be an opening along the distal margin. However, that could be decay or a ill fitting margin. The fact that you are getting food trapped and the area is painful means the only way to properly diagnose the problem... the crown needs to be removed. Irrelevant of what the opening is, the crown needs to be re done before the bacteria destroys tooth structure and bone.

Have you contacted the dentist who did the crown? If not, that would be something to consider doing as she may be willing to redo the crown at a reduced fee or for free since you have a legitimate excuse for not seeing her sooner.

I know this is a frustrating situation for you. But I urge you to take care of this sooner than later. The money is an issue, but losing the tooth due to waiting will become a bigger issue.

Please check back with us.
Bryanna

Hi Bryanna,

Thank you so much for your reply!

I submitted my grievance in just under one year's time to the insurance company. This crown was installed on Jan 26 of 2013.

Unfortunately, the dentist submitted the paperwork for this crown as if she had completed it in Dec of 2012 - which was wrong. I complained about it at the time to her, but she said it would be fine and I truly didn't have the energy to argue with her.

I had two other crowns done, one in Dec and the other when this one was done.

She wanted to do this one and one other in Dec but I wanted the one that was actually causing me a great deal of nerve pain to be done first. So she just submitted the paperwork for them incorrectly, in reverse order.

I did return to her office within only a few days after getting this one done and complained about this tooth and she just ground it down - it was cutting into my cheek.

She just told me to return if I still had trouble, but I was still having trouble, she just wouldn't listen to me about it.

Just getting it installed was such an arduous process and she had a significant amount of trouble with it. I've never had such a rough experience with a crown or a dental procedure before. Something was wrong with this one from the get go.

I don't trust her anymore and I don't want her to replace it. Period.

She didn't listen to me when I returned to her office about it. She didn't listen to me when I complained about it on the very day it was done or when I returned to her office within that week.

Frankly, since my speech was very messed up, I believe she treated me like I was stupid and didn't listen to me much at all about anything.

When I was going through getting tests done to see whether I had hypopituitarism caused by a concussion that was causing me the ongoing speech and cognitive issues she recommended that I see a psychiatrist! Instead of pursuing the testing I needed to be diagnosed! It seemed as though she thought I was making it all up because she had never heard of the condition before.

I went ahead and got the testing completed and it proves that I have pituitary dysfunction caused by the concussion and I'm on hormone therapy which is why I'm finally doing so much better now.

Needless to say, I am upset about the whole thing. It's like just one more thing that I can add to a long list of things that went wrong because I was ill from an auto accident that was some guy's fault who wasn't paying attention on the road.

Anyway, this dentist was not a very good dentist and if I had had the energy to look for a better one at the time then I definitely would have.

She recommended I get a ton of crowns (four that I can remember, maybe more) - I got three with her that I can remember, but this one that's causing me trouble was the last one, the third one, that I got with her.

Only one of those three teeth she put crowns on was giving me any kind of problem - it hurt a great deal and now it doesn't since I got the crown installed.

I told her I wouldn't get the last crown, the fourth one, that she insisted I needed after she did this last one that I hate.

The dentist I recently saw, who saw on the x-ray that this one needs replacing says I don't need any more crowns at all. He says my mouth and teeth are in great shape, other than needing this one replaced. So now I am wondering if I ever really needed this third one at all, or the second one she did.

I definitely understand how important it is for me to get this crown replaced and I will do so even if the insurance company denies my grievance. But it's expensive!

Thank you so much for your reply again.

I'll keep you posted.

Hi EsthersDoll,

Thank you for sharing more of the story. You have certainly had a rough time in more than just the dental aspect. SO glad that you are finally feeling better with your overall health

Did the dentist start the crown in Dec 2012 and insert it in Jan 2013? Does your dental insurance pay on the "prep date" or the "insertion/delivery date" of crowns? Dental plans differ in their submission dates so it's important to know what your plan requires.

Or is it possible that she submitted the crown in Dec 2012 so that you could maximize your dental insurance for that year? Sometimes this form of submission is an advantage to the patient because it allows you to utilize the insurance for 2012 so that you were left with a new benefit year starting Jan 2013 to be used towards other dental work. This type of insurance submission is done frequently in many dental offices.

One way to get some possible retribution is to go the state dental board and file a claim for poor dental care. They will legally request your records from her for evaluation. This will tell the story in it's entirety so long as she kept accurate, legitimate records on your care.

Just a side note here about the difference of opinion from the previous dentist to this new one........ more times than not, dentists disagree on restorative treatment as one might be more preventive oriented than another.... or more aggressive than another. Who's right.... who's wrong.... depends on the individual patient case.

Please keep us posted.
Bryanna

My insurance company approved the replacement of the crown! I just received notification of the approval a few days ago.

The previous dentist, the one who put the crown on that hurt me, either had no record or didn't give my insurance company the record of my returning to have the crown adjusted or my complaints about it. What a surprise!

They said they couldn't determine whether it had been completed incorrectly in the first place or whether it had come loose since it had been completed. C'est la vie - I wasn't going to argue about such a small detail since they had approved it's replacement!

I just got home from my NEW dentist/s office. He showed me photos of how inflamed and irritated my gum had been over the last year+ due to the old crown being placed in a position that sustained pressure on my gum.

I sighed a huge sigh of relief once he was able to pry it off; so loudly the dentist asked me if I was ok. I responded with an emphatic, Uh Huh! (Yes!!) I told him my inclination was to leave it just like that and not put anything else on it! But I knew that was a bad idea and his assistant gave me a temporary crown after they were done getting all the measurements and impressions that they needed so I can get a permanent crown in a few weeks.

Luckily, the new decay underneath the crown that was hurting me wasn't bad enough to necessitate a root canal.

The area really hurt for several hours after I returned home, but it's finally starting to feel much, much better than it's felt in over a year.

I'm hopeful that since I won't have this ongoing pain to have to contend with on a constant basis that I'll have more energy to deal with other aspects of life. Since I have hypopituitarism I have severely low energy reserves... I would much rather spend my limited energy on anything else other than dealing with pain... I'll bet even healthy people would say the same thing!

I 'm thinking about writing a couple of negative reviews on Yelp and Angie's list about the dentist who put the crown on there and wouldn't listen to me about the discomfort and pain it caused me and a couple of great reviews about the new dentist who has helped me!!

Anyway, it all worked out. Thanks so much for your advice!!

Good luck everyone!!

**Make sure you see the dentist every 6 months - my new dentist told me that's the #1 reason people have to get root canals, because they don't go for routine visits to the dentist.

I have a porcelain crown on tooth #18. The tooth above is missing. The tongue is getting irritated by the cusp that was sectioned out on tooth 18 to fit the upper crown when it was there. Is there any way to add some material to the crown even just temporarily to get rid of the tongue irritation? Thanks!!

Hi Silky,

Perhaps the porcelain crown can be shaved down slightly just enough to make that pointy area smooth. That would be the easiest remedy.

Otherwise, the crown would need to be removed and redone.

Bryanna