Dental Malpractice

On September 2005 I went to Gentle dental of Riverside for dental check up. I was told that I had two cracked teeth and require two crowns. While the dentist was working on my mouth, a male assistant came in the room to assist the dentist. The assistant started to push down on my right lower jaw. As a result of their negligence I started to have pain and discomfort on my right jaw. I notified this to the dentist and the manager; as a result of this the dentist did not even want to see me anymore. The office manager suggested I see the other dentist in the office . I am able to get an appointment for the next day. I expressed to him my concern and feelings that it may have resulted from the assistant pushing down on my jaw thus tearing the tissue on the inside of my mouth. When I thought would be a solution or investigation turned into more maltreatment and pain. Dr. examined my mouth and put a bite block between my teeth on my left side toward the end of the treatment and at the time ripped the tissue on my left side.
In the process of his drilling my tooth 3 OL, I felt uneasy and in pain and continued to gesture to him to stop. He blew me off, and told me "just wait a few minutes" with an ambiguous smirk on his face that disconcerted me. The bite block was too big for my mouth and it tore the lower sides of my mouth. At this point, after I received my second crown, both sides of my inner mouth are ripped. After two to three weeks I started to experience even more problems now both with my right and left jaw. I started to complain to them that I am having more problems now with both sides. the dentist told me that I cannot come to their office anymore. I filed a complaint with the insurance United Concordia and the Dental Board of California. I was told by the Dental Board of California that there is no laws to protect me against these dentists. Writing my complain to the Dental board of California and United Concordia insurance did not help me any, I was basically ignored. I even went to several other dentists and a specialist in Riverside. They all stated that I do have a problem but they did not want to help me in a court of law.
Several things that could have prevented this: they did not discuss the disadvantages of the procedure to me, other options were not mentioned for instance since my teeth were not cracked all the way to the root they could have covered my teeth with a metal. Instead of push down on my jaw they should have placed a bite block to properly open my mouth and not force my mouth to open. I was also told by a another dentist that even I may have cracked teeth if I did not have any problems, it could have been left alone. As a result of their carelessness, negligence and lack of competence I continue to experience problems with pain and discomfort in my mouth and jaw area. Many nights I cannot sleep. I keep waking up. I cannot lay on my sides anymore. I have to sleep on my back. I have to wear a night guard or else the discomfort is even worse at nights. The right side of my jaw is lower than the left side. To this day, the condition of the lower part of my mouth is the same or worse condition as the day it happened. It feels as if no healing has taken place. For months my mouth and throat have been sore. I noticed that both sides of the upper corner of my mouth had been ripping from the inside. There is tearing in the corners accompanied by pain and redness and stretching on my soft palate, my uvula was touching my tongue, my tongue descended down, there is torn tissue where my tongue was before. As the inside of my mouth was tearing I could feel my soft palate, palatoglossal arch and palatopharngeal arch stretch with pain and soreness.
I feel that as a patient I have the right to know what procedure is being performed on me and the complications of it. If the dentists informed me that I was going to have all the complications as I am having now, I would not have elected to do the procedure. The likely fact is that the dentist were also unaware of the complications for they were mistakes, not complications, which they do not want to take responsibility for. I feel that they should be held accountable for their actions and negligence, which at this point they are claiming they are not at fault. Their actions are those of a guilty party, and I need to get to the bottom of this.
In conclusion if anyone is reading this please be aware that there are dental offices that don't really care about the patient. They are looking for their own best interest and that is money. To them the patient is like an assembly line. So as a consumer you have to investigate and please do not rush into something. Because that is what I did. I was not aware of the other options. I should have explored all the options and talked to other people, researched on the internet. I have couple of friends and family who are in the dental field and I did not confide in them. I just jumped at the what these dentists told me and I believed them. I should have taken my time and investigated before letting them work on me.
Thank You for reading my story, I hope it is informative.