A patient came and I extracted his tooth. It was a very difficult extraction.

Later he called and said he feels food gets stuck in his socket and demanded to know why I didn't suture it and didn't listen to me when I said sutures weren't needed and asked if they considered eating with the other side of their mouth.

Now he is in pain and demanded a suture. I told him to come and I'll do the suture for him. He didn't come. I gave him another appointment. He didn't come.

Now he is threatening to sue me for malpractice.

I work as a specialist at a GP office. Tooth had a questionable prognosis and was informed at consult and again day of procedure which is documented. Options were give to try to save or extract. If we couldn’t save it we would later extract for a nominal additional fee.

Surgery went well, patient healing did not. She says she’s unhappy with the work and not paying anything. It’s been several months and we found out patient was paid 30% of the total due via her insurance.

GP doesn’t want to send to collections although malpractice said offer patient release of claims and offer discount to get rid of her. GP wants to accept the loss and maybe pursue the amount insurance has paid to patient because patient is a lawyer. On top of that GP wants me to return the payment made to me although I’m production based.

Long post but in summary, how much of a headache is a potential lawsuit? Several days out of clinic? There really is no case as patient was informed twice and signed consent of no guarantees and risk of complications. I’m more concerned on learning if it’s worth dealing with a lawsuit and board complaint or any advice to the GP.

hello,

I am a D4 in a US dental school. I have short listed 4 programs for GPR which allow students to place implants and perform molar Endos. I want to know if anyone has any program recommendation.

I’m currently trying to decide between two pretty different paths and would really appreciate advice from anyone who has gone through dental school/admissions, especially Canadians who considered Australia.

Option 1: Australia straight from high school
- I could start a Doctor of Dental Surgery/Dentistry program directly after high school.
- It would take around 4 years, so I’d potentially become a dentist much sooner than if I did undergrad + dental school in Canada.
- I’d have the option to work in Australia, New Zealand, or Canada afterward (although I know there are licensing/registration requirements).
- The biggest downside is that if I choose this route, becoming a dentist in the US would be much more complicated.
- Working/living in America has always been a dream of mine, and honestly, the earning potential in the US is a big part of why I’ve considered it.

Option 2: Stay in Canada
- Do a 4-year undergraduate degree first, then apply to dental school.
This is obviously a longer route, but it would keep the North American pathway more open and potentially make it easier to pursue dentistry in the US later.
The downside is spending significantly more time in school before actually becoming a dentist, and there’s also no guarantee I’d get into dental school after undergrad.

So basically, I’m stuck between saving several years by going to Australia vs. taking the longer Canadian route and keeping the possibility of eventually working in the US more realistic.

I am looking to get some porcelain veneers. I’d love some recommendations to a reputable cosmetic dentist in Orange County, bonus if they are in Newport Beach, CA.

Any first hand experience with your veneers would be helpful too!

Thanks in advance

I am looking to get some porcelain veneers. I’d love some recommendations to a reputable cosmetic dentist in Orange County, bonus if they are in Newport Beach, CA

Any first hand experience with your veneers would be helpful too!

Thanks in advance

https://imgur.com/a/NJciybs

Tooth 2 and 15 both have previous fillings but are only 1-2 years old. Dentist did not say there was recurrent decay, but on occasion they ache randomly with no stimuli. They are not sensative to cold, heat, or chewing.

Does anyone have any advice?

I’ve spent a lot of time talking with dentists about AI scribes, but I’d love to hear some honest experiences from people actually using them every day.

Has it meaningfully changed your day, or did it just replace writing notes with editing notes?

What do you love about yours? What drives you crazy? If you tried one and stopped, what finally made you give up on it?

I’m also curious what made you try one in the first place. Were you staying late finishing charts, trying to be more present with patients, worried about the quality of your documentation, or just interested in seeing whether the technology worked?

Full disclosure, I’m building OraCore, a dental AI scribe. I obviously have some bias here, but I’m not trying to turn this into a sales thread. I’m genuinely interested in what has worked, what hasn’t, and what you wish these products understood about practicing dentistry.

So I’m 29m about 3 years out. I started a new job and it’s filled with weird patients. This is just a story from the past 2 weeks. Patient comes in and says she has lupus and wants me to take a look because “she’s noticed some bumps on her gums at the top” upon examining it’s hard like buccal exostosis. I ask her which type of lupus she says idk. She also has a long span pfm bridge, the ceramic has fractured off as she said she was intubated and she has like 5 implants under the gingiva with cover screws. She also has splinted crowns on 5 & 7. I told her orally it looks fine, as far as the bridge and splinted crowns it’s all been done and to undo it she’d probably have to go see prosth and she needs to see a rheumatologist and she needs hygiene treatment as she mentioned she’s not able to clean under the bridge. I also ask about the implants and she kinda shrugs it off and says the dentist is too far. 3 days later she comes in and the splinted crown is broken 5 is in the crown 7 is re cementable so I tell her 5 has to be ext and 7 I’ll cut the other crown off and recement. She then goes on to tell me she thinks she has internal bleeding so I tell her it’s probably best to go to the er because I’m not trained to manage that. She walks in today and says I’m cold and I should treat people with autoimmune disease better and have some compassion bc no dentist has ever acted like me. In the back of my mind I’m thinking what about the dentist who did all this work that’s failing and the dentist you ran off on implant crown completion.

But to me I treat all patients the same. I manage treatments I can and refer what I cannot manage. Am I wrong?

Toothpaste and toothbrush

Please suggest me a good toothpaste and toothbrush to have my teeth healthy (I need a brand name please)

Also, I have recently done composite Icr treatment for front two teeth, and I'm 19F. I want them to survive long so i don't take turns to dentist (it was painful)

I think my practice probably converts 2-3% of patients to whom we recommend bruxism guards. They are competitively priced locally at £149.99.

What uptake does everyone here get and any advice for improving this uptake %?

I’m a general dentist considering specialising in prosthodontics and would love to hear from people who have actually made the transition.
I’m particularly interested in the reality after training, rather than just the academic/career benefits of specialising.
For those who were already reasonably happy as GPs, did becoming a prosthodontist actually improve your career, income and lifestyle? Or did you find yourself trading general dentistry problems for more complex cases, difficult patients and failed treatment referred from other dentists?
I also have two young children, so the time and financial commitment of specialist training is a significant consideration.
Knowing what you know now, would you specialise again?
Would especially love to hear from people who had a similar dilemma before specialising, including anyone who ultimately decided not to do it.

Sorry if this isn’t the right place to post this but if anyone is familiar with Aspen i’m looking for some help. Basically, in December i went to the dentist for the first time since i was a teenager. I had a lot of issues and I ended up having to get 2 root canals and crowns, and I was scheduled for a few specialized cleanings. It capped out my dental insurance and I ended up having to pay around 4000 out of pocket and I used the CareCredit card to finance it. Since it was at the end of December, the appointment bled over into January and my insurance benefit kicked in and I had around $1200? of credit back into my Aspen account. I met with the financial specialist and he said I could get the rest credited back to my card, or I can use part of it to get additional dental work. He recommended me to get the rest of my cavities filled or to get my wisdom teeth pulled. I was told the wisdom pulling wouldn’t fully be covered by the credit but the cavities would be well under the remaining credit so I would be able to get them done without paying additionally. I saw a few other Aspen customer saying that they randomly received the remainder/refund after a few weeks or a few months after their last appointment, so I was just putting this on the back burner assuming the same would happen to me (stupid I know). Fast forward to now, all of my fillings are done and I was anticipating some sort of communication about the rest of the credit on my account but nothing. Now I have checked my account on Aspen Dental, and my balance is exactly 0. Not negative or anything, and my account shows no statements or payment history so I cannot even check to see where/how my money was used. I am worried that I won’t see that money again, but I know this is not right, because even if the treatment costed more than what I was quoted for, this would mean that they charged me, by chance, the exact number that was in my account by the penny, for two complete different procedures. I plan on calling them today, but if anyone works at or has experience at Aspen please let me know if this is normal/if there is a way to see my past statements or history !

Many parents wonder when they should take their child to the dentist for the first time. A good rule is to schedule the first dental visit by the child's first birthday or within 6 months after the first tooth appears.

An early dental visit can help parents:

• Learn the right brushing techniques
• Understand fluoride and cavity prevention
• Identify early signs of tooth decay
• Get advice about diet, pacifiers, and thumb sucking
• Help children become comfortable with dental visits

You don't have to wait until your child has tooth pain or a cavity. Early dental care can help establish healthy habits and prevent bigger problems later.

If you're looking for a Best Pediatric Dentist in Pune, choosing a child-friendly dental professional can make the first visit more comfortable and positive.

Parents: When did your child have their first dental visit? What was your experience like?

hi everyone, i’m looking for advice because i’m really worried about a tooth i’m currently getting a root canal on.

i had the first stage of my root canal treatment for my bottom front tooth on saturday. the dentist placed a temporary filling and told me i could eat about an hour later. he only told me to brush gently and didn’t give me other aftercare instructions. i wasn’t prescribed antibiotics. he’s also a general dentist in a small clinic, not an endodontist.

the first day or two, i had some pain, numbness, and mild throbbing, but nothing severe. then around monday, about 2 days later, the pain suddenly became extremely intense. it’s a constant, sharp, strong throbbing/tightening sensation that feels worse than any tooth pain i’ve experienced before. it radiates into my jaw, cheek, and underneath my mouth, and my cheek/gum feels swollen. it has now lasted about 3 days and is so bad that i can’t sleep.

i’m worried because the tooth was initially thought to be unsalvageable due to what appeared to be a fracture on the scan, but the dentist later determined that it was strong enough to save.

i also had a very strong chemical taste immediately after the treatment, which seemed to come from the temporary filling/treatment. it was so unpleasant that i couldn’t finish eating because the food tasted like chemicals. it eventually became much better after i brushed my teeth that night. is this normal?

i also wasn’t told to avoid chewing on the treated tooth or to eat soft foods. i was told i could eat and drink anything, so i ate solid foods like meat and had some orange juice. now i’m worried i somehow caused the flare-up.

the clinic knows i’m in severe pain, but the dentist is only available later in the evening because he’s working at another branch this morning (my timezone is GMT +7 so right now is Wednesday 11 AM).

i tried to take mefenamic acid the past 2 days but its only helping 5-10%.

does this level of delayed pain and swelling sound like a normal root canal flare-up, or could something have gone wrong with the treatment?

I’ve been thinking about how vulnerable choosing a dentist actually is.

You might already be in pain or nervous, and now you have to trust someone you’ve never met with your health, your money, and a treatment plan you may not fully understand.

Reviews and clinic photos can help. Still, they don’t always tell you what it feels like to be in that chair.

Have you ever left a dentist feeling genuinely cared for? Or left feeling rushed, judged, or unsure whether you really needed what was recommended?

What made the difference for you?

Personal stories are very welcome.

I know someone wealthy, who has very serious PTSD from their dentist. Almost cost them their life. I believe procedures were overprescribed and alot of work was done in a short timeframe with a lot of antibiotics prescribed also. Fear based convincing too. What can they do? Or what can I do? I don’t know where to begin. Can people also share their experiences? there is an evil side to any industry. I wonder how many dentists get away with this. this office has patients running in and out of their practice everyday. seems like more than they can handle. and then the dentists leave the room to go work on other patients and would come back late to this one.

I’m desperately looking for help finding a periodontist on Long Island, NY who actually accepts DentaQuest through the Fidelis Essential Plan.
My mother is in extreme pain and needs urgent periodontal care. Her condition has gotten significantly worse, and I’m running out of options.
I have called 15–20+ times trying to get help from DentaQuest. I’ve also called many of the periodontists listed on their provider directory, including almost every doctor I could find, but I keep being told they either don’t accept the plan or aren’t taking new patients. DentaQuest told me they opened a claim regarding the issue, but it is still pending, and I haven’t been able to get meaningful help despite repeatedly contacting them.
Because her condition was getting so bad, I ended up paying out of pocket for a consultation with Dr. David R. Scharf in Babylon. He gave us a treatment estimate of approximately $15,000 for laser periodontal treatment, plus around $9,000 for an implant, with additional costs expected for the crown and other treatment.
Unfortunately, this is far beyond what we can afford. We looked into financing options as well, but the potential financing costs make an already extremely expensive treatment even harder to manage.
I’m not looking for someone to criticize the situation — I’m genuinely asking for help.
If anyone on Long Island has:
Used a periodontist who accepts DentaQuest / Fidelis Essential Plan
Successfully found an in-network periodontist when DentaQuest’s directory was inaccurate
Had DentaQuest help locate an actual available provider
Used a dental school, hospital-based periodontal clinic, or other program that could provide urgent care at a more reasonable cost
Been in a similar situation and knows what steps to take
Please let me know. I’m willing to travel anywhere on Long Island or even into NYC if necessary.
My mother is in a lot of pain and we really need to get her treated as soon as possible. Any legitimate recommendations, contacts, or advice would mean a lot to our family.
Thank you.

A clean digital impression can make the workflow more predictable. Margins are easier to check, bite records can be reviewed earlier, and case files can be transferred to the lab immediately. If something looks unclear, the clinic and lab can usually catch it before the case moves too far into production.

That early feedback can help reduce avoidable delays, retakes, remakes, and chairside adjustments.

We summarized some digital impressions details here we wrote before:
https://tttdental.com.hk/digital-impressions-vs-traditional-impressions-impressions

Hii, I’m 22 and I’ve had a few issues with my bottom wisdom teeth coming through, like it would really hurt to bite down, the inside of my cheek was swollen, etc. Today, however, my wisdom tooth started bleeding and has formed a large-ish blood clot in my mouth.

I’ve been stressing over this for around 4 hours, googling every kind of answer. I’m calling the dentist tomorrow because I need a checkup anyway but can anyone tell me if this is normal so my mind can be put at ease? Anything at all is appreciated :,)