Can I Sue my Dentist Because She Failed to Give Me a Temporary Tooth for a Crown?

Question

I went to my Dentist for a crown after having a root canal done. She decided not to give me a temporary tooth, so when the crown came back from the lab it did not fit. She had to drill on it so much, she had to use that as a temporary and send another impression to the lab. I moved away and after that experience I did not want to have any work done by her again. I now have to get another Dentist in my area to fix this problem. Is it worth sueing my Dentist over this?

Norman Huefner, DDS · Answer

The answer is no, you certainly don't have much ground to sue the dentist.  Call fifty dental offices and ask each one of them if they ever got a crown back from their dental lab that did not fit correctly?  Then ask what they did?  You will be told they they would never cement a crown that didn't fit properly, so would have taken a new impression and made a completely new crown for their patient.  There are hundreds of steps that the dentist and lab do in fabricating a perfectly fitting crown and any single one, for a variety of reasons, can easily go off, resulting in a poor fit.

	So, your dentist already took another impression and made you a second crown.  If you've lost all trust and confidence in the dentist, then certainly go to another dentist whom you trust.  I understand that.  But the new dentist will now have to take a third impression.

	You have no basis to sue the dentist unless there you experienced damage or the dentist practiced below the standard of care.  Again, doesn't sound to me like you have any case at all.

Soheyla Marzvaan, DDS (retired) · Answer

Your dentist did the right thing by attempting to redo your crown. You should appreciate that she was willing to give you a well fitted crown instead of cementing a bad fitted crown on your tooth. She too is losing time, material and overhead if it does not fit the first time. It is unfortunate you moved away, and you have to go back, but she had nothing to do with your move. And it is not her fault if a crown doe not fit properly the first time. It happens all the time, sometime we get lucky it fits like a glove so to say, at times it needs adjustment before seating, and at times after a period of time spent on adjustments, we decide to  redo it. There  are so many factors involved, from the distortion of impression material to temperature change, to delivery, to lab material and lab technician, etc.... these things happen. A good dentist will redo a case if it does not meet the standard of care.

Can I Sue my Dentist Because She Failed to Give Me a Temporary Tooth for a Crown?

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Can I Sue my Dentist Because She Failed to Give Me a Temporary Tooth for a Crown?

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Everything you need to know about Dental Crown

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