- Freddie GrayJuly 26, 2016 at 7:39 PMI think that you handled this the right way. Had you confronted or blamed the dentist, it could have made for a very uncomfortable situation in the chair when he makes the repair. By allowing the dentist to save face, you handled it like a professional and you will eventually get the result that you want.ReplyDelete
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There is nothing worse than a toothache. I can't even imagine being in a foreign land dealing with the localdentists about a tooth problem and knowing more about the remedy than he does. I want to say "hang in there" but when it comes to toothaches I think it's more "grin and bear it" until you can find a dentist.
Dear Freddie and Quinn:
Just this very day, I returned to the same dental office and the same dentist. It was to deaden a tooth that he had placed a cap on in June. The first left lower molar tooth, which had been sensitive since early May, was still sensitive but, at the advice of the dentist then, and a second opinion, I agreed to live with the sensitivity, brush regularly with special toothpaste, and see what happened.
What happened was that a week ago, the sensitivity became worse. For three nights, it became excruciating after 9 pm; once the busy day left me time to feel the pain. When I lay down to sleep, not ten minutes later, I bolted up and found a sip of room temperature water leaving a pool around the tooth, seemed to make the throb stop, but ten minutes later, I was startled up again; this went on all night long until I finally fell asleep out of fatigue.
Dr. Chen not being in until Wednesday, I visited a third local dentist who refused to mess with another dentist's work, even if it was to relieve my pain, and instead gave me a prescription for pain killers and antibiotics with an admonition to return to the source.
It has been a divine comedy of saving face with this dentist from the start, as your timely and ironic comments provoked my memory. The toothache, from rotting teeth and receding gums, began in April this year.
When I had pain, initially, I was going to go to a local dentist instead of Dr. Chen at Dr. Wells Clinic to see the dentist who did my implant, but my wife erroneously tipped off the Wells office and I had to turn my change of dentist into a 'second opinion' so I could still get another implant, if needed without making Mr. Chen lose face; he is good at implants.
On my return, he made a mold for a temporary cap that, unlike in Brooklyn, had to be outsourced, so I would have to wait. I declined and went to the States for my daughter's wedding with nothing on the tooth. All went well.
On my return, he made a mold for a temporary cap that, unlike in Brooklyn, had to be outsourced, so I would have to wait. I declined and went to the States for my daughter's wedding with nothing on the tooth. All went well.
When we returned to the dentist after the stateside trip, I went back to Dr. Chen who then made a mold; I had to wait two weeks for a temporary cap, anyway! I went home with nothing on the tooth again.
Two weeks later, he put on the temporary cap. Dr. Chen then said I should wait a month with the cap to see if the sensitivity was bearable before putting on a permanent cap, but I said that since so much time had already passed since the initial pain in April, I needed no further evidence that I could handle a cap and not need a root canal. He agreed to put it on in three weeks.
Two weeks later, he put on the temporary cap. Dr. Chen then said I should wait a month with the cap to see if the sensitivity was bearable before putting on a permanent cap, but I said that since so much time had already passed since the initial pain in April, I needed no further evidence that I could handle a cap and not need a root canal. He agreed to put it on in three weeks.
Anyway, to make a too long story a little shorter, after three sleepless nights and one on pain killers, the pain was unabated. Dr. Chen took me in at my wife's insistence, drilled a hole in the porcelain cap he had recently put on, cut the rotting nerve that was causing all the pain, and set me up to get a root canal and new cap in two months time when my tooth is strong enough to bear the stress.
Before working on me, my wife politely asked him to give me enough Novocaine. He shot me up the back jaw which did nothing to numb the front molar. He came back and shot me up again, same place, and it again did nothing. I then asked my wife to ask him to shoot me up at the gum under the tooth, which he then did saying he was going to do that all along. Okay, save his face and lose my own.
By the way, isn't a dentist supposed to take an x-ray after the procedure to make sure the nerve is cut?
Before working on me, my wife politely asked him to give me enough Novocaine. He shot me up the back jaw which did nothing to numb the front molar. He came back and shot me up again, same place, and it again did nothing. I then asked my wife to ask him to shoot me up at the gum under the tooth, which he then did saying he was going to do that all along. Okay, save his face and lose my own.
By the way, isn't a dentist supposed to take an x-ray after the procedure to make sure the nerve is cut?
We left at 11am, me on the bike and Leona and Amanda on the scooter and went to the Chung Yo Dept. Store area to see the dentist at Dr. Wells Clinic. Once again, before we went to Sitou, my cap fell out, then, because of the space it left between, the implant behind the cap got loose. After the dentist tightened the implant, he told Leona the reason the cap fell out was because the implant got loose but I think it was the other way around. ‘Saving face’ is very important. It is true however that my first trip to the dentist in Taiwan was because the implant came loose. Nothing was done to remedy the situation. Now, the dentist will ‘do research’ to find a longer stem for my obsolete short ten-year-old design implant that Dr. Benjamin installed five years ago.
Leona defended the dentist again when I questioned why he has to do ‘research’ about getting a longer screw for my implant; he blames the ‘too short screw’ for the loose cap he made on the tooth in front of it. I suggested he write directly to the company that makes the screws instead of, what Leona said he’d do, ask around other dentists in Taiwan to see if they have it. She said he was saving us money by doing so
Leona defended the dentist again when I questioned why he has to do ‘research’ about getting a longer screw for my implant; he blames the ‘too short screw’ for the loose cap he made on the tooth in front of it. I suggested he write directly to the company that makes the screws instead of, what Leona said he’d do, ask around other dentists in Taiwan to see if they have it. She said he was saving us money by doing so
