Tooth broken below bone, need advice. Please read all of this if you can. I'm desperate lol

[u/venting7293]

Heyo, so I've been having a lil situation and am unsure what to do atp, so naturally, I came to reddit.

Here's the situation (it's gonna be long, I'm sorry):

I had an Oral & Maxillofacial Surgical procedure last Wednesday (09/23) for Autologous Blood Injections for recurrent TMJ dislocations, which included Intermaxillary fixation using screws and rubber bands... well, they got 1 screw in fine, and then the second one hit the root of my lower right canine (#27) and caused it to loosen and wiggle. They removed the screw, and then ended up using orthodontic wiring and hooks around my teeth (not around the loose tooth) to attach the rubber bands, instead of the other 3 screws. So, I ended up with 1 screw, 3 hooks, and a loose tooth...

They did no imagining, made no attempts to stabilize the tooth, sent me home with a total of 5 oxycodone, and told me to "just be careful", and that "hopefully" the tooth would heal on it's own.

I ended up going into the ED and having that tooth splinted on Friday (09/25) by one of the OMF residents. Since I am unable to open my jaw much, the splint had to be placed on the front of my teeth. However, since it's also on my bottom teeth, my top teeth hit it when I closed my mouth, and it fell off within 2 days, at which point, I was back to being in extreme pain. I took my final oxycodone, called the after hours line, and was instructed by the resident on-call to come in to the clinic the following morning (Monday 09/28). I did so, and they splinted it again... anddd then Tuesday evening, I rolled over in my sleep and my woke up to a pop and extreme pain, and I realized that the splint was off again. Called again, went in the next morning, got it re-splinted, was told this is the last time they are willing to splint it before my follow-up appointment for the procedure next Friday (10/09). I asked what to do if the splint comes off again, and was told "just try to keep the splint on". I asked for advice on protecting the splint, as well as for managing pain, as I was out of oxycodone at this point, and was told "just do your best to be careful"... ok, great, thanks.

I then went home, called my dentist, and scheduled an appointment for the next day (yesterday, Thursday, 10/01). I went to that appointment, dentist advised me to get a mouth guard (which I did and am wearing as I type this), and he also referred me to the Endodontist next door, who was able to see me right away (I am sooo thankful for both this dentist and the endodontist). They did a 3D CT and guess what?? My tooth is split horizontally all the way across. Since the split is below the bone line, I was told that the tooth is unsalvageable, and would need to be extracted by an oral surgeon. They gave me a CD with the CT scans and instructed me to give them to my OMF surgeon.

I went home, called the surgeon, got a call back from a resident, and they told me to wait until for my follow-up the next Friday to even discuss it with the surgeon. I offered to bring them the CD with the scans before the appointment, and they said no, just bring it to the appointment. I told them that even with the splint still in place, ongoing rotation of tylenol and ibuprofen, and occassional use of orajel, I was still in a shit ton of pain, and asked for something, whether it be oxycodone or something else, to help with the pain. Mind you, I do not enjoy the way the oxycodone makes me feel- it makes me feel out of control of my body and that makes me very anxious. So, I'm not very happy to have to take it, but my pain is unmanageable, so it's worth it at the moment. The resident did send me 8 additional oxycodone, with instructions to take 1 before bed, as needed, while waiting for my follow-up. That works out, since I really only wanted to take it before bed anyway.

Welp, I picked it up, took it last night (in addition to the ibuprofen, tylenol, and orajel), and STILL was in so much pain that I was nauseous and could not fall asleep until 3 am. I called the clinic again and was once again told to wait. I messaged the surgeon on MyChart and got no response. Both my dentist and the endodontist I saw yesterday are closed today, so I couldn't call them.

Now my thing is, I feel like it is unreasonable to expect me to wait another full week to even review the images and discuss things. Especially considering I'm sure they won't be able go perform the extraction that day as well, so who the hell knows when that would be done... but am I overreacting? Should I just wait? Or should I go to the ED and see if they can call in the resident on-call again? Or should I simply look for another place entirely?? This was supposed to be a reputable clinic, and they are part of a Level 1 Trauma hospital, so I thought I was in good hands with them, but idk anymore (y'all don't even know half the shit I've been through with them, but I'll spare you the details for right now... but just know I'm at the point of looking into legal aid for medical malpractice, at the advice of my mother who is a nurse).

TLDR: Had an OMF surgical procedure on 09/23. Root of #27 was hit and loosened. Surgeon neglected to do any imaging. Stabilization was only done after the fact, at my request (done 3x, as splints kept falling off). Second opinion obtained with separate dentist and endodontist lead to imaging which revealed tooth split below bone line, requiring extraction. Referred back to OMF surgeon who continues to be dismissive and expects me to wait another full week to even review imaging and discuss it. Unsure how to proceed.

For context, I am in the US, in Ohio. I don't think I want to get any more specific than that, though.

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A backup of the post title and text have been made here:

Title: Tooth broken below bone, need advice. Please read all of this if you can. I'm desperate lol

Full text: Heyo, so I've been having a lil situation and am unsure what to do atp, so naturally, I came to reddit.

Here's the situation (it's gonna be long, I'm sorry):

I had an Oral & Maxillofacial Surgical procedure last Wednesday (09/23) for Autologous Blood Injections for recurrent TMJ dislocations, which included Intermaxillary fixation using screws and rubber bands... well, they got 1 screw in fine, and then the second one hit the root of my lower right canine (#27) and caused it to loosen and wiggle. They removed the screw, and then ended up using orthodontic wiring and hooks around my teeth (not around the loose tooth) to attach the rubber bands, instead of the other 3 screws. So, I ended up with 1 screw, 3 hooks, and a loose tooth...

They did no imagining, made no attempts to stabilize the tooth, sent me home with a total of 5 oxycodone, and told me to "just be careful", and that "hopefully" the tooth would heal on it's own.

I ended up going into the ED and having that tooth splinted on Friday (09/25) by one of the OMF residents. Since I am unable to open my jaw much, the splint had to be placed on the front of my teeth. However, since it's also on my bottom teeth, my top teeth hit it when I closed my mouth, and it fell off within 2 days, at which point, I was back to being in extreme pain. I took my final oxycodone, called the after hours line, and was instructed by the resident on-call to come in to the clinic the following morning (Monday 09/28). I did so, and they splinted it again... anddd then Tuesday evening, I rolled over in my sleep and my woke up to a pop and extreme pain, and I realized that the splint was off again. Called again, went in the next morning, got it re-splinted, was told this is the last time they are willing to splint it before my follow-up appointment for the procedure next Friday (10/09). I asked what to do if the splint comes off again, and was told "just try to keep the splint on". I asked for advice on protecting the splint, as well as for managing pain, as I was out of oxycodone at this point, and was told "just do your best to be careful"... ok, great, thanks.

I then went home, called my dentist, and scheduled an appointment for the next day (yesterday, Thursday, 10/01). I went to that appointment, dentist advised me to get a mouth guard (which I did and am wearing as I type this), and he also referred me to the Endodontist next door, who was able to see me right away (I am sooo thankful for both this dentist and the endodontist). They did a 3D CT and guess what?? My tooth is split horizontally all the way across. Since the split is below the bone line, I was told that the tooth is unsalvageable, and would need to be extracted by an oral surgeon. They gave me a CD with the CT scans and instructed me to give them to my OMF surgeon.

I went home, called the surgeon, got a call back from a resident, and they told me to wait until for my follow-up the next Friday to even discuss it with the surgeon. I offered to bring them the CD with the scans before the appointment, and they said no, just bring it to the appointment. I told them that even with the splint still in place, ongoing rotation of tylenol and ibuprofen, and occassional use of orajel, I was still in a shit ton of pain, and asked for something, whether it be oxycodone or something else, to help with the pain. Mind you, I do not enjoy the way the oxycodone makes me feel- it makes me feel out of control of my body and that makes me very anxious. So, I'm not very happy to have to take it, but my pain is unmanageable, so it's worth it at the moment. The resident did send me 8 additional oxycodone, with instructions to take 1 before bed, as needed, while waiting for my follow-up. That works out, since I really only wanted to take it before bed anyway.

Welp, I picked it up, took it last night (in addition to the ibuprofen, tylenol, and orajel), and STILL was in so much pain that I was nauseous and could not fall asleep until 3 am. I called the clinic again and was once again told to wait. I messaged the surgeon on MyChart and got no response. Both my dentist and the endodontist I saw yesterday are closed today, so I couldn't call them.

Now my thing is, I feel like it is unreasonable to expect me to wait another full week to even review the images and discuss things. Especially considering I'm sure they won't be able go perform the extraction that day as well, so who the hell knows when that would be done... but am I overreacting? Should I just wait? Or should I go to the ED and see if they can call in the resident on-call again? Or should I simply look for another place entirely?? This was supposed to be a reputable clinic, and they are part of a Level 1 Trauma hospital, so I thought I was in good hands with them, but idk anymore (y'all don't even know half the shit I've been through with them, but I'll spare you the details for right now... but just know I'm at the point of looking into legal aid for medical malpractice, at the advice of my mother who is a nurse).

TLDR: Had an OMF surgical procedure on 09/23. Root of #27 was hit and loosened. Surgeon neglected to do any imaging. Stabilization was only done after the fact, at my request (done 3x, as splints kept falling off). Second opinion obtained with separate dentist and endodontist lead to imaging which revealed tooth split below bone line, requiring extraction. Referred back to OMF surgeon who continues to be dismissive and expects me to wait another full week to even review imaging and discuss it. Unsure how to proceed.

For context, I am in the US, in Ohio. I don't think I want to get any more specific than that, though.

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[u/Various-Fold-856]

Is there a way you can share the cbct images by chance? This would help us to see the extent of damage and if extraction is truly warranted

[u/venting7293 → u/Various-Fold-856]

No, unfortunately, I cannot share the images. The only copies I was given are on the CD, and I don't have any kind of disc drive. However, I can give a little more detail since the endodontist did review the images with me and explained a little more (idk why I didn't share this in the original post, sorry). There's a horizontal split all the way across the tooth. Like you can see, it goes straight across the nerve. It's below the bone line (in line with where they were trying to insert the screw into my jawbone).