Can a dentist do some side work on you...?

So, I accidentally ripped out a filling with my fingernail. I guess I just crushed a menthol breath mint too hard while chewing it, and everything got all stuck together. It didn't even hurt at first...

Anyway, when I finally got to the dentist's office for the repair—we were right in the middle of some procedure—she started poking around near my gums. I felt this sharp, stabbing sensation in the tissue right above the tooth. It felt weird, honestly. I've never had that happen before...

Once the new filling was in, she shows me an X-ray of this bloody little blister right next to the tooth they fixed. Then she sends me off for another X-ray on a different tooth because of that blister. She started talking about potentially swollen nerves and how we need to see if something more serious needs to be done, maybe even a root canal...

Looking back, I remember her digging into my gums, and now it’s actually starting to ache a bit. It makes me wonder... is there some kind of scheme where they poke you just to create a new problem? You know, just to give themselves extra work they can bill you for?
Just so we're clear, I went to a private practice here in the States...

.

Arthur Flores2 said:So, I managed to pop my filling out—completely by accident. I was chewing on a Mentos mint and it got stuck to my tooth, so I tried to pick it loose with my fingernail... and *pop*, there it goes. Honestly, no pain or anything beforehand, just a sudden vacancy where my filling used to be.

So, I was at the dentist the other day—right in the middle of getting some work done—and things got a little weird. While she was working near the gum line, I felt this sharp, poking sensation right in the tissue above my tooth. It caught me totally off guard—I’ve been to plenty of clinics around town and I've never felt anything quite like that before. Just a sudden, strange little sting out of nowhere.

So, I just got this new filling, and my dentist immediately pulls up a photo of this bloody blister right next to the tooth she just fixed. Then—get this—she sends me off for an X-ray on a completely different tooth because of that blister. She’s talking about potentially swollen nerves and says we need the imaging to figure out if there's more work to be done... basically hinting that I might end up needing a root canal. Just one thing after another, really.

I just realized something was digging into my skin earlier—and now it’s actually starting to ache a bit. It got me thinking: is there some kind of shady setup where they intentionally cause a little injury just to create a problem for us? You know, like manufacturing a crisis just so they can charge us later to fix it?
Just so everyone knows—I went to a private specialist for this one.

.

Go ahead and take a picture—she couldn't get that little blister to heal, but honestly? That's on the bacteria that reached the nerve. Think of that blister as the body’s own little shield—kind of like a scab, really—trying to protect itself from the infection.
Look, if that decay shows up clearly on your X-ray—and I mean really stands out—you’re probably looking at a root canal. It's just how it goes.

Megan Miller34 said:Basically, you'll probably need a root canal if there's visible decay on the panoramic X-ray.

Wait, what even is a root canal?
Here's an X-ray of my tooth. Maybe someone who actually knows dentistry can tell me what we're looking at here...?

https://apis.mail.yahoo.com/ws/v3/ma...ilNorrinLaunch

https://apis.mail.yahoo.com/ws/v3/ma...ilNorrinLaunch

https://apis.mail.yahoo.com/ws/v3/ma...ilNorrinLaunch

.