Healthy Tooth Chipped by My Dentist during Extraction
 

Hi All,

I'm new here and was attracted by Bryanna's suggestions on bone graft. I'm impressed by how knowledgeable members are here. Hope you can help me with my concern.

I had my two wisdom teeth on the left side pulled last Thursday. However, I had a piece of teeth falling off this noon (7th day after the extraction)! The debris is about as big as 1/3 of a grain of rice. After looking into the mirror for a while and having friends check my teeth, we both think it's from the tooth at bottom next to the extraction site. The shape of the debris looks like a part of cusp on that molar which appears missing a part of cusp. That part has whiter color than other part of the molar too. I think it was chipped by the dentist when he used the drill to pull out my bottom wisdom tooth.

I actually had a follow-up dentist visit this afternoon. I showed the dentist the debris. He didn't even look at my teeth and tell me it's a part of filling and it doesn't matter. I NEVER had filling before! But he was like "maybe you did it when you were 6 and you don't remember it". I swear I didn't have filling, because I don't like sweet food so my teeth have been pretty good since young (except they are not tide. I wear bracelet before but it was for the teeth in front and didn't touch that molar). Later I even called my mom to confirm that I didn't have filling.

Then he is like "maybe it's the bone graft I filled in". I compared the debris and the bone graft he showed me. The debris is 3-4 times bigger than the bone graft. He told me that if it's part of the molar, the debris is very strong and can't be crushed easily. Then he crashed that debris with the top of a metal thin pen-like dentist tool. The debris was not crushed at the beginning seconds but eventually was crushed. It turns into sand-like pieces. And he told me "see, it's easy to break. It's not part of the molar".

His assistant even said, "it (the debris) couldn't be from that tooth

But then, what is it? Where was it from? I ask him whether the debris is from that molar after he looked at my teeth. He was like "maybe, maybe not". What does this mean?!!

Anyway, I still expressed my concern on that missing piece on the molar. When I slightly scratch that missing piece, it's a little bit sensitive. When I scratch other top part of that molar, I don't have the same sensitive feeling.

He took out the X-ray pictures I did at beginning of the year during preventive visit. I can see that the molar had a cusp at the place where it's flat and whiter now. I'm stupid enough to not point it out because I don't want to make it an argument with him.

My dentist eventually said, "if you insist, I can do a filling. I'll polish the surface, use some chemicals, you know...". Since my extraction site haven't healed yet, I don't want to use chemicals around that site. Besides, I'm not sure whether I'll be paying the bill of filling. If there is any fee caused by this, I don't want to pay for it since I believe it's the dentist's fault.

But I'm not happy. And I'm concerned about that molar. I'm worried that the incident will weaken the molar and eventually lead to severe tooth issue.

Can anybody tell me what should I do?

Thank you very much in advance!

Lydia

Sorry I didn't finish the assistant part.

His assistant said it couldn't be from my molar because if it is, it should have fallen right after the extraction. It won't wait until now.

Is is possible that my healthy molar was hurt at the first visit but not cracked enough to fall off at time? After couple of days, the debris finally fall apart?

I'm not knowledgeable to tell whether it's true. Actually I can't tell whether it's true that it's proved not be part of my molar since the debris can be crushed.

But the dentist concluded the debris to be a filling without looking at my teeth and after looking at my teeth and the x-ray. And everything in this follow-up visit -- it makes me doubt.

Hi mqxw,

The piece of "debris" could have been a small portion of the tooth enamel of that adjacent tooth or it could have been calculus that came off of that tooth.

Sometimes an adjacent tooth is slightly chipped during an extraction. Usually it is not a cause for concern.

The problem does not sound at all urgent and can wait to be evaluated again. Once the extraction site is healed and you go in for a dental cleaning, have the hygienist examine that tooth and see if she feels there is a slight piece missing. Try not to worry about it... it's probably something very minor.

Bryanna

Thank you Bryanna!
 

Hi Bryanna,

Thanks very much! You reply comforts me a lot. I was so worried because I don't have the knowledge to decide the situation. Re-evaluation after healing is definitely a good idea.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Lydia