Malpractice question. About my dentist

[JJL618, RN]

First, I hope I posted in the right area. If not, please move or delete.

I'm hoping someone can give me some advice. We learned about malpractice in school this past semester, but I never thought I might get to see it firsthand.

I had a root canal done in March. I kept having pain in my gums after the procedure. I was told the root canal looked great, so I kept going back to my regular dentist (who I no longer use) to complain to him about the pain. I was told my bite was too high, or it's the tooth in front of it, or it's the tooth behind it. Those were true because I ended up needing fillings on both of those and my bite on the root canal tooth was corrected. But I still had pain and I knew it was coming from the root canal tooth, so since I was off from school, I decided to head back to my new regular dentist (I switched to a new dentist this summer) because of the pain and to see what I needed to do. She took an X-ray and it showed an infection and recommend I go back to the Endodontist who performed the root canal. I went Tuesday and I was shocked at what I was told.

The Endodontist took another X-ray and said a sponge (cotton pellet but he called it a sponge) was left in my tooth when my regular dentist put the permanent filling in 2 weeks after the root canal treatment in March. My old dentist also did not fill the tooth all the way down like it needed to be to prevent bacteria from getting in thus I have an infection and have to have the tooth retreated. It's going to cost $950, and my old dentist so far isn't taking responsibility or offering to cover the cost of the retreatment. He's blaming the Endodontist because he claims the Endodontist didn't put on his notes he sent over that a cotton pellet was put in place and that he didn't see it when he went to fill it in.

I'm just looking for advice on what to do? I'd hate to threaten a lawyer, but I also think he should do the right thing and cover the cost of the procedure since he didn't take the cotton pellet out of my tooth leading me to be in pain for months and acquiring an infection. Not sure if this case constitutes malpractice, but I wanted some advice before I contacted a lawyer. And he could have just been busy this week due to this being his last week until after the new year, so maybe I'm worrying for nothing and he'll end up doing the right thing. IDK.

[chare]

Unfortunately, it sounds as if contacting an attorney might be your best option. He or she can review your records to determine what, if any liability that your previous dentist has, and advise you to your best course of action.

Best wishes as you work through this issue.

[elkpark]

Per the site's Terms of Service, we cannot give any medical or legal advice here.

[dianah, ASN]

Good you kept pursuing the cause of the pain, so sorry it has turned out this way, needing repair work.

Per the Terms of Service, no one is able to offer legal or medical advice.

We wish you the best.

Closing this.