Part one of this story can be found here.
The Dentist, Part II
5.10.6
I thought I'd never have to enter a Comfort Dental office again.
My new crown was in place, and for awhile I was able to live normally. It was almost too good to be true.
Within weeks, the now familiar pain had begun to creep back into my life. A dull throbbing sensation had developed under the crown. It would start out mild each day, but as the hours progressed, it would grow to unbearable proportions. Obviously, something was wrong.
There was no fucking way I was going to walk back into a Comfort Dental, though. My insurance still covered one more exam for the year, so I decided to use it. I asked a co-worker, Greg, if he could recommend a dentist. He said he was very happy with his dentist, so I made an afternoon appointment there.
The dentist I saw there was named Dr. Miller. From the start, I could tell I liked this place better. There was a sense of class and professionalism that was lacking at Comfort Dental. These people really seemed like they knew what they were doing.
Dr. Miller examined the crown, and found that it wasn't fitting quite right. This lack of coverage was allowing more and more food to affect the area as each day progressed. This explained why the pain kept building up the way it was.
He questioned why Comfort Dental hadn't gone with a gold crown, but at the same time seemed to have some sympathy for them. He claimed that a bite as small as mine is difficult to work on, and explained to me that a failed crown was not necessarily always a result of bad dentistry. He almost had me believing that maybe Comfort Dental didn't suck.
Dr. Miller told me that he could do the work if I wanted him to, but suggested that it probably made more sense financially to have Comfort Dental fix it for free. He gave me an x-ray that I could show them, and prescribed something for the pain.
I put off going back to Comfort Dental as long as possible. When the pills ran out I found that the pain had actually subsided considerably. It wasn't until a new pain started that I finally made an appointment.
I once again found myself sitting in the chair at Comfort Dental.
In my hand I held a little brown envelope containing the x-ray from Dr. Miller. An assistant asked me what the problem was, and I told her. I explained what Dr. Miller had told me, and handed her the x-ray. She was examining it when Dr. DiLizia appeared. She handed him the x-ray, and things went downhill fast.
"What's this?" he asked, and then, "Ah, it's an x-ray...but this isn't our x-ray. Where did you get this?" All I managed to force out was one elongated non-word comprised mostly of vowel sounds. "Where did you get this?" he repeated, and I was again, unable to form a sentence.
See, I wasn't prepared for this line of questioning. I suppose I had expected him to display some level of professionalism. Instead he badgered me repeatedly about why I had gone somewhere else. It went on like this for a few minutes: His questions, and my stuttering attempts at dodging his questions. Eventually I found myself lying to him just to get him to shut up! I told him that my mother had asked me to go to Dr. Miller. In situations like this, I've found that a mother's request tends to trump all other hands.
My plan worked, and he prepared to fix the crown, the whole while going on about how the crown had actually broken. "He couldn't see that it was broken? Just another troublemaker in the world...spreading lies." It was awkward as hell. This man was about to drill away at permanent fixtures in my mouth...and he was fucking pissed at me.
He began with 5 separate shots of Novocain. He jabbed away at my gums with the needle, each shot coming quickly after the last. Then the last shot...I felt the liquid enter my body, and suddenly there was a pressure against my teeth. Then there was a scraping sound, like nails on a chalkboard. The metal smacked against my upper teeth, and liquid went flying everywhere.
I'm not entirely sure what had happened, but it seemed as though he had simply gotten careless in his rage. I do know that things seemed to calm down after that.
They drilled off the old permanent crown and made a few impressions for the new one. This time they decided to go with a gold crown (as Dr. Miller had suggested). They finished by putting on a new temporary crown and I left.
The next day, I received a message from Dr. DiLizia while I was at work. It was basically just a pathetic attempt to make himself look like a caring professional. However, at one point he says, "Feel free to call the office and we will be happy to help you out." The intonation of the word "will" in that sentence made it obvious to me that he's still angry that I received a second opinion, which is ridiculous. My mouth is infinitely more important to me than the ego of some dentist I just met. It blows my mind that he doesn't understand that.
Anyway...
Yesterday, I finally went in for my "last" appointment. They removed the temp, and placed the new gold crown. I had them do it without Novocain, because I hate that shit. Nothing ruins my night worse than when Novocain starts wearing off. I almost wish I had taken the shot, though, because the pain was excruciating.
It's all finally "done," though. After 8 office visits, 4 temporary crowns, and 3 permanent crowns, my simple 2-visit procedure is complete. I can promise that I will stay away from Comfort Dental. Even if I have more problems with this tooth, I will not return...no matter how much it costs me.
I suggest you stay away from them as well...
