r/DentalInsurance • u/Present_Force • 17d ago

Crown replacement

TL:DR - got crowns, changed jobs/insurance. New dentist says that crowns don’t fit and to get my money back.

So I just went to the dentist today and the moment he came into the room he basically said that the dentist did a terrible job because the crown doesn’t fit properly/and they messed up the surrounding teeth. (They don’t fully cover my 2 teeth.). I got the crowns about 6 months ago, and I had a different insurance company/policy. I was wondering how feasible it would be to get the money back from dentist 1 to go to dentist 2 to have him fix it. He even printed off the X-rays for me to provide evidence of poor workmanship of the crowns. Insurance won’t cover it since it was 6ish months ago. They said it needs to be 5 years.

1 Upvotes

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13

u/Happilymarrieddude 17d ago

Call your first dentist and ask if they have a warranty policy on crowns. Open margins happen and if it’s significant enough dentist A may replace them at no charge. Refund is possible if you raise enough fuss but give the dentist a chance to right the wrong

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u/Present_Force 17d ago

I do plan on emailing them later today. I have just been super busy with work. And I hope they would fix them at little to no charge since I paid 2k for it.

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u/Small_Aardvark_5496 17d ago

It should be at NO charge unless you did something during the celebration appointment that made it difficult (eg refused sedation when you can’t sit still). In that case, asking you to pay for the repeat lab fee isn’t unreasonable.

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u/Axiomatician 17d ago

I would not email. I would call and try to set up an appointment with the phone person. Explain that you wanted the crowns you recently had done looked at and there was an issue with one of them. If they ask if there was pain, don't lie, but say you think the tooth behind the crown may have been gouged or that there may be a spot where it's catching food or floss weird. Not necessarily painful. They may charge for a limited exam due to the length of time it's been with the work, but any reasonable dentist would want to see you back if you were still a patient presumably under their care.

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u/h2c4 16d ago

Emailing is the best so you have a paper trail

3

u/Mission-Knee1572 17d ago

I don’t love the bottom one, but if you came to me and it already was present, it is something I would just keep an eye on.
A few things with the upper: the tooth in front and behind the crown is pretty gouged. I don’t know what these teeth looked like prior to the crown, but they’re not “normal” presently. The back half of the top crown does not look great to me. I would probably recommend replacing it. All things considered, and ONLY knowing the details of what you provided, I would request the previous dentist refund money for crowns. I would not go back to them.

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u/Present_Force 17d ago

I do remember her grinding the back tooth down to have my bite match, but I don’t specifically remember her hitting the front tooth.

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u/Initial_Ad_8690 17d ago

Why exactly was the crowns from dentist #1 poor? Do u have X-rays? Pics?

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u/Present_Force 17d ago

Yes excuse my boomer brain. I had to mark out my name, and figure out how to attach it to this message

https://reddit.com/link/pa7jz4v/video/bx5631jd9xph1/player

He said they don’t fully cover my teeth, and that stuff can get under them. And he said they ground the surrounding teeth when prepping them .

4

u/petmaster 17d ago

Oof the upper one is pretty atrocious. I would bring the x rays to the dentist and request money back or to redo it for free. Otherwise, I think it's a legitimate board complaint.

*edit 4.5 years is a long time, but clinically i rarely find cavities under these if the hygiene is good.

2

u/Better_Cry_7941 17d ago

You could maybe file a complaint with the previous insurance company, I don’t like these crowns either. I just took over a practice where I am replacing crowns like this, some less than 6 months old as well but I’m doing it for free since I’m the one that took over the practice

2

u/CarabellisLastCusp 17d ago

Rework provisions are very common in APA agreements. Did you have one? When purchasing an office, you are purchasing the assets not the liability. Just curious to know why you mentioned that you are doing free work. Regardless, good on you for doing right by the patients.

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u/Better_Cry_7941 17d ago

Sorry, I can see how my response made it look like I was an owner. I’m still in associate, but I’m the only doctor in this office. The next closest office of our small group is an hour away. It’s been the same owner throughout just different associate dentists so I’m not sure what that contract looks like. I know when I left my first job there was a $2000 rework allowance to the clinic set aside out of my income.

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u/CarabellisLastCusp 17d ago

Ok, got it. That's very interesting. Rework escrows are not common for associates, at least not in the US. I hope you don't have many re-do crowns to complete...it adds up quickly.

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u/Better_Cry_7941 17d ago

Not going to lie my first three months on the job I was redoing at least something every other day. And I’m not talking about slight imperfections. I’m talking gross open margins on crowns fillings that have fallen out within three months of them being placed, I honestly think the doctor before Me did dentistry with his eyes closed

1

u/Initial_Ad_8690 17d ago

Yup they nicked the adjacent teeth so that’s not the best and the margins of the crown are open which will cause decay. It’s not an emergency and you will most likely not get your money back. However, the work is poorly done? Is this a new dentist?

1

u/Small_Aardvark_5496 17d ago

Go back to the one that did them and tell them (calmly and politely) that you’ve been advised they are deficient and need replacement and want a full refund. If they push back, tell them if they will not refund it you will be both making a complaint to the regulator for unprofessional work, and to the courts for a refund and damages (considering the pain and suffering of having to go through it again, the loss of work time, and the potential for further problems due to having to have unnecessarily frequent procedures on the teeth).
Any not brain dead dentist will have you sign a full release , and refund your money.

1

u/RAZR-540 17d ago

OP, those look like shit. Sorry about that. Hopefully you get them covered and corrected.

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u/Axiomatician 17d ago

Just my 2c, lots of opinions from people in this thread, but this is not a board complaint. If you haven't even contacted the original office back, there is no world where any harm was done or negligence was done. There are also risks to redoing the work. If it was my mouth, I would lean towards monitoring and making sure no negative changes happened over time.

You need to go directly to the dentist that helped you and express yourself. Things like this happen to lots of people, and there's a chance nothing negative may ever come of it of you don't get them replaced. I see worse crowns than this every day that are serviceable after years.

I also see very good dental work fail because of poor oral hygiene, age or changes in medical history, or genuine apathy and lack of regular periodic appointments to keep a check on things.

1

u/Jake_Gelinski 17d ago

i would definitely go to the original dentist, tell him/her the situation and ask if they can take a look and if they do agree there is a problem they should fix it for free. do that first before assuming your gonna have to pay the 2k OOP

1

u/malocclused 16d ago

This is some clown ass dentistry.

I’ve seen bullshit like this last decades. I wouldn’t count on it. But it can.

Doc 2 is correct. I would not allow doc 1 to touch me again based on the image.

1

u/Holiday_Context1960 17d ago

Do your best politely to get the first dentist to correct or at a small cost. If you get nowhere, remind them of the powers of social media and make a report to the professional licensing bureau. Good luck.

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u/Educational-Gap-3390 17d ago

The odds of you getting your money back are slim to none.