TLDR: They botched a "minor" filling. Then they ignored my many emails and calls for a month while…read morean infection spread in my tooth, which led to massive necrosis and the worst pain I have experienced. $1,000 and 3 months later, my tooth is still healing and I'm still in pain. They turned my 2016 into a never-ending nightmare.
I've been with Dr. Paglia for a long time, since 2009. My Invisalign experience was ok. It didn't correct all of my problems, but I was fine with it. At the end of 2015, Dr. Paglia said I had a tiny cavity on one of my front tooth that she wants to fill. It apparently wasn't even visible to the eye, and she said she saw it on the x-ray (my endodontist later wondered if there was a cavity there at all). Little did I know that letting her fill this cavity would lead me to spend much of 2016 in pain and over $1,000 in expenses.
I got the cavity filled on 1/8/2016. The tooth was sensitive for a few days, as expected. But then, a week after the procedure, it started to hurt like a toothache. I knew this wasn't how fillings were suppose to feel afterwards. After all, this was a "minor" filling, right?
On 1/19/2016, I emailed the office telling them about the continued pain and inquiring whether I could schedule an appointment for them to look at it. My email went ignored. Meanwhile, the tooth pain steadily increased in duration and severity. I called the office on 1/27, 1/28, and 1/29. I left voice mails on 1/27 and 1/28. On 1/29, their voicemail was actually full! I called many times that day, but no one picked up. I sent yet another email on 1/29. By this point I was suffering from bouts of mind-numbing pain that came and went several times a day.
As I later found out, an infection had been slowly spreading in the pulp of the tooth. The pain was my nerves signaling that they were dying. While Align Dental was busy ignoring all my calls and emails, the bacteria they introduced were busy multiplying and turning the insides of that tooth into bacterial soup. Eventually, on the night of 1/31, the nerves and blood vessels necrosed. Necrosis, which I've learned about in text books but never had the pleasure of experiencing until now, happens very quickly--it's basically a chain reaction where your cells die in violent explosions and cause their neighboring cells to do the same. As the cells exploded, massive pressure built up in the tooth, and I experienced The Worst Pain of My Life.
I spent the entire night delirious with pain, which spread from that one tooth all the way up my head and down to my lower jaw. I managed to call my university's emergency services, but there was nothing they could do but direct me to the dental emergency services the following day. I'm also allergic to pain medication. The only thing I could do was stuff my mouth full of ice, for 14 hours. My husband was extremely distressed and close to tears because of how much pain I was in.
When dental emergency opened, the dentist there took one look at me and directed me to get an emergency root canal. The endodontist said that if treatment occurred even a few days earlier, necrosis would not have occurred. He pulled out the sad, putrid remains of what was left of the insides of my once perfectly healthy tooth, and had to leave a gaping hole there for a week because so much pressure had built up.
Hilariously, Vanessa finally decided to email back *after* I had the emergency root canal. Her entire message was, "Hi Joy, we will have to take a look. That kind of filling shouldn't be causing you such great pain." No actual scheduled appointment. No apology. After I told her I had to have a root canal done, she was surprised that it was the tooth they filled, and offered "Im so sorry you had trouble with that tooth." No admission that they messed up, and no explanation for why I was ignored for an entire month.
Today, this tooth is still healing. My new dentist mentioned that for really bad cases such as mine, the tooth might never heal, and I might still need future operations. Align Dental's mistake cost me over a thousand dollars, immense pain and emotional distress. Failed fillings are a leading cause for root canals, and you want to get them done with a professional who knows what they're doing, and actually cares about the wellbeing of their patients.
