is my dentist a quack?

May 10, 2009 8:07 PM

My tooth cracked. Is it my dentist's fault? (bonus question: is it causing my tonsillitis??)

I had a filling in my tooth. Several months passed and the dentist had to replace the filling with a new one. Now, the tooth feels cracked. Is my dentist a bad dentist? Is this his fault or is this a normal complication for a filling?

Bonus question: too much googling and hypochondria has led me to believe that my untreated cracked tooth has become infected (although not painful) and is causing swollen tonsils. Is this correlation accurate? Has this happened to you? (yes I have a doctor's appointment scheduled).

posted by Jason and Laszlo to health & fitness (9 comments total)

If your tooth feels painful, you might have an infected nerve that requires a root canal. Consider seeing an endontologist.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:20 PM on May 10

It is not painful
posted by Jason and Laszlo at 8:28 PM on May 10

How do you know it's cracked? Can you see it?
posted by oneirodynia at 8:48 PM on May 10

How long ago did you get the filling replaced? If it's fairly new, your tooth is probably not cracked....I'd expect it to be painful if it were. What kind of tooth has the filling? A molar? You may just need a bite adjustment on the filling, or it needs some smoothing down. It's definitely worth a trip back to the dentist.
posted by eldiem at 8:49 PM on May 10

Filling is 6 months old, molar. Feels like a crack runs from gum to top.
posted by Jason and Laszlo at 8:55 PM on May 10

Go see your dentist! I had a wisdom tooth fracture but didn't know it. I took my sore throat, fever, and facial swelling to my doctor. I was prescribed IV infusion antibiotics and seen by medical specialists and had two CAT scans. No cause for my infection was identified. After two weeks, an ENT surgeon finally said I should see my dentist ASAP. My dentist sent me to an oral surgeon whose X-rays showed the tooth's fracture. Extraction ensued, the infection disappeared, and I resumed life.
posted by Carol Anne at 5:46 AM on May 11

I do not know about the first part of your question but an infection in the teeth can definitely cause your tonsils to swell. From personal experience with my husband doctors rarely consider this as an option. You will probably need to work together with both your doctor and your dentist on this. Do not delay, infections of the gums can do a lot to damage your teeth and surrounding bone if ignored, not to mention the damage infection can do in general. Go see your dentist ASAP.
posted by trishthedish at 7:43 AM on May 11

A cracked tooth does not necessarily mean you have a bad dentist. You could be grinding your teeth while you sleep - new dental work changes the shape of how the teeth line up and you could have smashed your changed tooth to bits while you sleep. Or it was just shot.
You could have a bad dentist, but 6 months is long time for something the dentist did to suddenly fail, and a cracked feeling isn't strong evidence to fire your dentist. My dentists will generally attempt to salvage something before moving on to more aggressive treatments - just let your dentist know what is going on and they will work their magic.

Your dentist could have had a bad day - I've had a couple of fillings fail - and I went back to the same dentist. There is a number of things that can prevent a filling from working, so it just happens, and one of mine was simply a bid to not get more extensive and invasive work done. If your tooth was cracked bad enough to warrant immediate attention - it generally wouldn't take you very long to figure it out - it would be very very painful. You should defiantly have it checked out regardless - but if it isn't painful you probably shouldn't freak out.
posted by zenon at 8:59 AM on May 11

When I get a filling that I think is questionable, I like to remind patients that is not Best Buy and there are no guarantees in healthcare, including dentistry.

Without x-rays, pictures, and a history no one can even comment about whose "fault" this is.

I've had fillings not make it past the parking lot and I've had "questionable" ones where I thought the pt needed a crown, but they denied it last much longer than expected.

The only mistake the dentist may have made is that he didn't lower your expectations...
posted by amalgamator at 8:21 PM on May 11