My husband broke the left upper front tooth (#9). Our dentist said he would extract the tooth and do a 4-unit bridge cover teeth 7-10. Our portion was supposed to be $1,966 after insurance. He requires payment up front so we did that. When we went in for the extraction, he changed how we was going to do the procedure to a root canal over the tooth and gums sewn over the root. We told him to get a preauthorization from Cigna, which is our dental insurance. He argued a bit but he finally agreed. Fast forward six months. We find out the insurance won’t cover the bridge because his upper arch has three teeth missing already. The dentist then charged us another $1000. It took a log of arguing, but he agreed to drop the $1000, but only if we sign a waiver saying he cannot be held responsible for any problems with the #9 tooth. The thing that worries me is that the temporary partial he provided has already broken twice and he wants $450 for it unless we sign the waiver. I don’t know what to do? We went to him because his fees were lower than the other dentists in our area, but this has been a complete nightmare.
Kelly
Dear Kelly,
Obviously, you need a new dentist. There is a big difference between a cheap dentist and an affordable dentist. It sounds like this dentist keeps his fees low because he can’t keep patients based on what I’ve seen in his handling of this situation.
Here is what I want you to do. Tell him that you will not file a lawsuit if he gives you a full refund. You will not be signing that waiver. If he is unwilling to do that you hope his malpractice insurance is up to date because you will be seeing a lawyer first thing in the morning. Additionally, you will be reporting him to the dental board as well as Cigna. Unless, of course, he gives you the refund. Don’t worry about paying for a partial that has already broken twice. He did not provide you with a functional product.
This blog is brought to you by Baton Rouge Dentist Dr. Steven Collins.