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Does anyone know the best way to get proper diagnostics care for a possible tooth fracture without being given the run around and ripped off by dentists? Whils
by prmph 3y ago
Does anyone know the best way to get proper diagnostics care for a possible tooth fracture without being given the run around and ripped off by dentists?
Whilst extracting my last wisdom tooth (in the US) the dentist must have made a bad mistake, because right after the procedure I couldn't bite down properly on the affected side on my mouth.
I went for years with this situation, and started experiencing occasional pain on that side. Whilst a teaching assistant the the University of Washington (UW), I used to visit UW Medicine for faculty, telling the dentists that I suspected a fracture (based on my research). However they would invariably just throw me off, claiming it was very hard to identify such cracks, it might not actually be a crack, etc.
Eventually I lost that tooth, almost certainly due to the widening crack, as I suspected.
Now back home in Ghana, another tooth seems weak when eating certain very hard foods, and again I suspect a crack. Again, dentists in general seem unwilling to really address it, halfheartedly trying various diagnostic procedures that do not actually uncover the problem.
One was quick to propose a root canal, which seemed weird to me as the first line option to address something like that. This dentist describes himself as a root-canal specialist, and it's not a stretch to assume that he sees every dental problem in terms of root canals. Another dentist suggested it was a small cavity, and did her drill and fill routine, which has done nothing at all to alleviate the problem. Yest another dentist claims I need some tooth tissue filed away to correct the problem.
So now I'm not sure what to do. It seems cracks are hard to identify; I'm not sure why dental imaging cannot help much here. I'd like to know if there are better options than dealing with lazy dentists who just want your money.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]