Malpractice

[eyeballfanatic]

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I've never had cavities in my life. I got braces when I was 13-15 and removed I think when i was 16. I'm 22 now. my first check up after my braces were removed my dentist said that the rings (for lack of a better word) that the orthodontist put on my top left and top right teeth cracked my teeth and I would probably get cavities so he filled them. within my next 2 appts my ONLY cavities were there. I've never had any other cavities elsewhere. I feel that this is malpractice on part of the orthodontist. Can I do anything about it?

Sorry if this isnt the right place but i have no other option and I'm clueless

 

[charlestweed]

Your dentist told you this without looking at the before and after orthodontic records. And you believed him?

 

[djeffreyt]

It's very likely your dentist was only correct in his own mind.

If you are talking about orthodontic bands, it is not only very unlikely but I've never heard of any such thing ever happening. So unless your dentist has images of what your teeth looked like before those bands, what they looked like with the bands, and what they looked like after, then there is no way he could have made that diagnosis and given you the reason for that diagnosis with any accuracy.

He was guessing at best.

Bands fit around the teeth. Normal PDL allows for enough movement of teeth in order for the bands to fit without any real effort, coupled with softer bone on a teenager, the placement is almost 0% likely to cause a fracture. Once they are on, unless they were put on so poorly that you couldn't actually close your mouth or eat, then they simply hug the tooth passively. This is the same concept of putting a crown on a tooth to prevent a fracture after a root canal. The band could not have cracked the tooth once placed, if anything, it might have helped prevent fractures from other traumas...

While I know absolutely nothing about your dentist or your orthodontist, right now, my money is the the orthodontist is less of a quack.

 

[eyeballfanatic]

Hi djeffreyt

thanks for the reply.

i don't believe my dentist is at fault. i believe it was my ortho. yes i am talking about the bands. and he has been my only dentist from my first checkup to my most current. He knows what they look like before and after ( i cant remember if I saw him in between i think i might have). but don't you think it is weird that the cracks formed on the two teeth with the bands on them? what else do you think could have caused them?

also when the ortho removed them, it was pretty tight and rough. i understand its not going to just slip off, but the cement/adhesive she put was really excessive (imo) and she really had to yank hard and i remember it hurting. and while i had braces it was discomforting to eat on that tooth

 

[mike3kgt]

I've never had cavities in my life. I got braces when I was 13-15 and removed I think when i was 16. I'm 22 now. my first check up after my braces were removed my dentist said that the rings (for lack of a better word) that the orthodontist put on my top left and top right teeth cracked my teeth and I would probably get cavities so he filled them. within my next 2 appts my ONLY cavities were there. I've never had any other cavities elsewhere. I feel that this is malpractice on part of the orthodontist. Can I do anything about it?

Sorry if this isnt the right place but i have no other option and I'm clueless

You should consider punitive damages. Sue for at least 1,000,000... remember, dentists are overpaid and are only in it for the $$. Your orthodontist clearly didn't care about really serious things like dental caries when they were perfecting your occlusion & esthetics. 🙄

Thread block maybe?

 

[eyeballfanatic]

mike,

its not just a simple thing as a dental cavity. it was a fractured tooth. sorry if i actually expect my ortho to do her job. i understand everything can't be perfect, but I would like to solve the problem.

I was think of asking my dentist to put a crown/cap on it after its filled so it doesnt get worse as he already said the cavity is really bad

 

[wo5678]

you had your braces removed at age 16 and you didn't go to the dentist until you were 22? That is 6 years. There is so much that could've happened between then. There is no way to knows for sure at this point. Also, you are supposed to have regular checks up every 6 months. If you had discovered it earlier, it would be easier to fix.

 

[eyeballfanatic]

you had your braces removed at age 16 and you didn't go to the dentist until you were 22? That is 6 years. There is so much that could've happened between then. You could've cracked it eating something. There is no way to knows for sure at this point. Also, you are supposed to have regular checks up every 6 months. It is neglect on your part that it got this bad. If you had discovered it earlier, it would be easier to fix (if it was your ortho's fault).

i went in once or twice i believe, for regular checkups. they found the initial crack and then filled it and I belive i went once more but just for a cleaning.

 

[DrJeff]

I've never had cavities in my life. I got braces when I was 13-15 and removed I think when i was 16. I'm 22 now. my first check up after my braces were removed my dentist said that the rings (for lack of a better word) that the orthodontist put on my top left and top right teeth cracked my teeth and I would probably get cavities so he filled them. within my next 2 appts my ONLY cavities were there. I've never had any other cavities elsewhere. I feel that this is malpractice on part of the orthodontist. Can I do anything about it?

Sorry if this isnt the right place but i have no other option and I'm clueless

Deep breath time here.

First off, ANY dental "hardware" (i.e. orthodontic bands, fillings, crowns, etc, etc, etc) is a mechanical object that you are placing in an environment that is moist 24/7, is regularly being thermocycled, and is being "crashed" into every time your opposing tooth contacts that mechanical object in your mouth. Then on top of that it's up to you the patient to keep that mechanical object for the 99.99% of the time that your NOT in a dental office. Just like a mechanical object in say ones car, things do wear out/break over time as a result of NORMAL wear and tear the vast majority of the time.

In the case of orthodontic bands, having been in practice now almost 15 years, I have literally seen hundreds of post orthodontic treatment patients coming back to my office, and while the vast majority of the time after ortho treatment is done, there isn't any "work" for me to do, it is far from uncommon that there is work that I will have to do on a few teeth(I'd say about 25-30% time there's atleast 1 tooth that I see that needs some type of post ortho tx work). The cement under a band/bracket can and does break/breakdown due to the "normal" mouth conditions that I mentioned previously and if and when that happens, one can see decay occur. As for the cracks that your dentist mentioned that were noticed on your teeth, well if you look closely at essentially every single natural tooth in your head, you'll see many small stress cracks that occur naturally from regular biting and grinding motions and forces. The vast majority of stress cracks won't need to be treated, and frankly if a dentist restores every single stress crack that they see clinically, this profession would IMHO being doing far more dentistry than is needed. There is certainly a subjective factor in what a dentist feels based on his/her own clinical experience and the findings infront of them about what constitutes a crack that does and doesn't need restorative attention, but to say that the orthodontic treatment was the sole cause of things is more than likely not the case. There are plenty of times when everything is done to "text book" standards and still there will be a final result that isn't the typical one, but ends up happening plain and simply due to the multitude of variables that is everyday life.

 

[djeffreyt]

Hi djeffreyt

thanks for the reply.

i don't believe my dentist is at fault. i believe it was my ortho. yes i am talking about the bands. and he has been my only dentist from my first checkup to my most current. He knows what they look like before and after ( i cant remember if I saw him in between i think i might have). but don't you think it is weird that the cracks formed on the two teeth with the bands on them? what else do you think could have caused them?

also when the ortho removed them, it was pretty tight and rough. i understand its not going to just slip off, but the cement/adhesive she put was really excessive (imo) and she really had to yank hard and i remember it hurting. and while i had braces it was discomforting to eat on that tooth

well, I suppose knowing that you've seen this same dentist most of your life lends some credibility to him...but I still don't know about the ortho bands causing the "cracks" in your teeth. I also never said your dentist was at fault (by which I mean he didn't cause these cracks in the teeth), but I do think it's a bit far flung to assume that the cracks are from the bands. If the orthodontist was as rough as you say, maybe, but there are far rougher things we do to our mouths each day that over the course of 5-6 years could cause non-symptomatic cracks and craze lines in our teeth.

It sounds like you had small craze lines in your molar teeth. If they had been large, there might have been some symptoms like bite sensitivity or cold sensitivity, but not always.

None of us here can really tell you anything since we didn't see it ourselves and with the teeth now filled with composite, or whatever, we can't see what was there. All we can tell you is that there are many other likely causes to what you are describing, and ortho would not be on the top of my suspects list. Not saying it can't happen, just saying it's not as likely.

 

[eyeballfanatic]

thank you jeffrey and Dr. Jeff. i understand it a little better now. Also I just came back from the dentist and he said that I have some small damages/cavities or something (i'm sorry he said some term "primary insipidious caries" maybe) and that they are not big enough to be filled but if i brush and floss properly it should be fine. what are those actually called?

 

[yappy]

Bad outcome does not equal malpractice. This is assuming the ortho had anything to do with the caries.

I've never had cavities in my life. I got braces when I was 13-15 and removed I think when i was 16. I'm 22 now. my first check up after my braces were removed my dentist said that the rings (for lack of a better word) that the orthodontist put on my top left and top right teeth cracked my teeth and I would probably get cavities so he filled them. within my next 2 appts my ONLY cavities were there. I've never had any other cavities elsewhere. I feel that this is malpractice on part of the orthodontist. Can I do anything about it?

Sorry if this isnt the right place but i have no other option and I'm clueless

 

[djeffreyt]

thank you jeffrey and Dr. Jeff. i understand it a little better now. Also I just came back from the dentist and he said that I have some small damages/cavities or something (i'm sorry he said some term "primary insipidious caries" maybe) and that they are not big enough to be filled but if i brush and floss properly it should be fine. what are those actually called?

It's primary incipient caries. They are the initial stages of small bacteria-induced cavities which have decalcified (weakened) the enamel of smooth areas of the teeth but have not created the larger physical "holes" or "cavitations" that will occur if the infection continues to grow. Yes, with proper fluoride rinses, oral hygiene care, and follow up, these can be monitored and hopefully will "heal" without having to be surgically drilled and filled. It sometimes works out, it sometimes doesn't. Hope it works out for you.

I suggest you add regular daily use of a fluoridated rinse, like ACT, as it may help as well.

 

[eyeballfanatic]

ok thank you for the info djeffreyt. I use the sensodyne toothpaste my dentist gave me and use listerine but my dentist said he used a medicated barrier in between the pulp/tooth and the filling so it will not get infected, because right now he said its a 50 50 chance of a root canal. that tooth is sensitive (about a 5 or 6 on a scale of 10) and was not sensitive before, is this normal?

sorry for the questions