Dental Dilemmas

Not been up to blogging much of late – may have something to do with the horrible time I have had at the dentists. In fact, I am coming on here to try and get some advice from anyone who’ll listen.  I stupidly decided to get a lot of dental work done at once, in hindsight since I was not in pain I shouldn’t have bothered.

Due to the sad and not sunken- fact that my husband lost his brand new job, I had to use the little dental insurance we had before it ran out at the end of this month.

My first big mistake was to mention these facts to one of the very few dentists I had a choice of using – basicall,y the ones who were in my ‘network’.  It was made very clear to the dentists that I had a limited time to do work and I wanted to try and maximize the insurance I had only had for five months but never utilized.

My second big mistake was to get a crown done by the adult dentist in the office, who was using an assistant who just happened to be working for her first or second day on the job (depending on whom I speak to, I get different answers).

And then the biggest mistake of all was letting my kid’s dentist work on two fillings (my dentist is on holiday for the month of July – thanks for telling me this AFTER you started the work by the way) – which subsequently "turned into a root canal," (which apparently could not be detected on an x-ray)  and resulted in me being referred to a specialist who, after examination, stated I needed root canals on both fillings (which she could do), but I had to go back to the kid’s dentist to have temporary fillings then crowns fitted (something he cannot do).

So now I am stuck with serious pain in half of my teeth (nerve exposure), and have no insurance left to finish the work which is estimated to be approximately $900 for each root canal and $1,500 for each crown– that’s $4,800 I simply cannot afford as we were living off one income as it is.

Here lays my dilemma.  Mama needs to work and supplement, well, sustain our income during this hardship, just to put food on the table.  It’s something my husband and I talked about for over a year before we had a kid, an issue that was raised a lot.  But now it has hit us hard and I am in survival mode. 

Being a blogger on Pleasanton Patch always invites comments, this time I am asking for some advice. 

I know it is an everyday occurrence to sue for malpractice here – do I have a case?

Also, being a very capable stay at home Mummy – if anyone needs a babysitter – I have a kid proof house, live 2 seconds away for a great neighborhood park and will gladly take in a playmate for my little munchkin. 

Thanks for reading.