I needed a dental crown but didn’t have the money. I decided to put it off for a bit. Then I saw an online advertisement. A dentist was offering a huge discount on dental crowns. He just received a machine which would allow him to create the crowns right there in his office and he wanted to gain some experience using the machine. As a result, he offered deep discounts. I thought this was a gift. I could finally get my dental crown. I had no idea it was going to take him over five hours to finish. He kept trying it in and going back to re-do it. My jaw hurts like mad and now I can barely bite down on the tooth. Did he damage it?
Angela
Dear Angela,
There are a few things which could be going on here. First, you mentioned you needed to get a crown but put it off because of finances. It’s possible that your decay had spread by the time you got to your discount dentist and had blossomed into a tooth infection. This would explain the pain on biting.
Did the dentist who milled your crown do any x-rays? If so, you could ask for a copy and have another dentist look at it to get a second opinion about any potential infection. Some dentists will even give a free second opinion. If you have one, it is considered a dental emergency and needs to be dealt with right away. I’ll help you find an affordable dentist for this in a moment.
The second thing which could have happened is it is just inflamed from being worked around so much. If this is the case, you will just need to take some anti-inflammatories and give it some time to settle down a bit. It’s just angry right now.
Finally, it is possible there was so much trauma to the tooth during the procedure you now need a root canal treatment.
Whatever the reason, you need to let the dentist know. An ethical dentist will want to make sure everything is going fine for his patients after a procedure, especially one that was so hard on your mouth as what you endured. Call his office.
Finding an Affordable Dentist
You don’t have to wait for a dentist to need the practice to afford your dental care. If you have an important procedure coming up which you cannot afford, do an internet search for an affordable dentist. These are dentists who have reasonable prices. They won’t be the cheapest because they don’t want to cut corners and cost the patient a failed procedure.
Instead, they are usually willing to work with patients by providing payment options. This is especially true when there is a dental emergency. Either they will have in-house payment plans or they’ll work through Care Credit. Either way, you can get the dental care you need.
This blog is brought to you by Baton Rouge Dentist Dr. Steven Collins.