I needed a dental crown and wanted to save some money so I went to a dentist in Mexico. A couple of years ago, I had three crowns placed with them a few years ago. One of them was bothering me a little anyway so I thought I’d save even more money by having them look at that while I was there. When I got there, they said all three of the crowns are failing and it’s best I replaced them. That left me getting four dental crowns that trip. However, a week after I got back the new one fell off. I went back to Mexico. This is a 600 mile trip for me. He told me that that tooth actually needs a root canal. I questioned why he didn’t tell me that at first and he said they’re not always necessary and don’t always take so he doesn’t do them unless absolutely necessary. That sounded okay and like he was trying to save me money, so I agreed to the root canal treatment. A few weeks later and that tooth is killing me and is sensitive to hot and cold. I go back, now it is officially getting not cheaper. He tells me I cracked my tooth. How did I crack it? It had a crown on it? He wants me to extract it and get a dental implant. I’m not sure what to think anymore. Do you have a recommendation?
Carlton
Dear Carlton,
I’m very glad you wrote. This is a perfect example of the difference between cheap and affordable dental care. “Cheap” usually ends up costing more money. There are two reasons that dentists will have prices well below the norm.
First, they could lack the skill to do good work and the only way to keep their practice running is by being appealing to new patients with their pricing because they don’t get a lot of repeat business. Second, is they cut corners with cheaper materials. This is so they can keep their profits up while keeping their costs down. This latter one can happen just as a result of being in another country where legal and sanitary standards are different than what we have in the United States. For instance there are Central American countries where dentists are not required to sanitize their equipment between patient use. It’s just up to the dentist whether or not they do this.
I feel like your dentist has been a combination of those two main reasons. Obviously, he lacks skill with dental crowns or they wouldn’t need to be replaced so quickly, nor would the new one have fallen off. Then, you have an obvious failed root canal. If he had done the root canal properly, then you would not have had pain. There would have been no pulp left in the tooth to have any sensitivity to hot and cold. Finally, I don’t necessarily think a cracked tooth must be extracted. It depends on a number of factors.
A dental implant is one of the most advanced procedures in dentistry. I highly recommend you do not let this dentist anywhere near your teeth any more. He has fallen well below the standard of care multiple times. You could ask for a refund, but because it is Mexico I don’t know how likely you are to get one.
Either way, I’d get a second opinion on this tooth. I recommend you use someone closer to home.
This blog is brought to you by Tulsa Dentist Dr. Ryan Noah.