4 years ago
I went to Dr. Lauren Becker in 2018 for early inte...
I went to Dr. Lauren Becker in 2018 for early intervention for a crack on a molar. It is paramount to note I had no pain or complications with the tooth when I went to see her. From the start, the restoration was a failure. I had to go several times to her office to fix and re-fix issues. With every visit, she failed to restore the tooth to a functioning state but causing more damage. The gum became detached exposing nerve pain. The nerve pain intensified when food traps in-between the tooth from the gap she created. My bite issue got worst. I was experiencing jaw pain, jaw popping, grinding, and clenching. The misalignment from the bite issue forces me to keep my mouth open at all times. She proved unskilled at rebuilding the tooth with proper shape, size and bite adjustment. The experience became more traumatizing due to her terrible chair-side manner. She was extremely defensive and argumentative. She would scream at me as she stood over me while I lay on the patient chair trying to explain the pain and complications I was dealing with. Having to go to her became nerve-racking. When I informed her of the pain I was experiencing from her last attempt at fixing the tooth, instead of asking me to come into her office for an in-person evaluation, she prescribed over the phone a mouth wash for inflammation claiming it was clinically impossible for my bite to be off and to have jaw pain/complications. I respected her prescription and waited but the pain did not subside. I reached out several times for her help and each time she boldly told me it was clinically impossible. Why did she choose not to believe me or evaluate the tooth in-person? An impenetrable battle, but I was finally able to get an in-person evaluation and when she administered the bite test she saw my bite was off and the reason for all the jaw complications. She offered no apology and asked if I grind my teeth - was not that one of the complications I was desperately communicating. She proceeded to fix the tooth but failed again. Unable to adjust the bite she recommended I remove the entire cusp of the Molar. She tried to assure me by saying she would advise her mother this way and some people are better off without cusps. I didn't agree but she removed it anyway. It felt like she was blindly filing the tooth to adjust the bite and the more she filed I was experiencing sharp pain. I told her I was in pain, but she did not stop, instead said it was good pain I was experiencing. What? She kept filing the tooth even as she saw me clenching my eyes and body from the pain. Is this type of treatment for all or some of her patients? I did not eat that day and later when brushing my teeth I could not believe the pain I was experiencing. She filed so deep she removed the cusps exposing pain but still managed to leave the cause of the bite issue. The jaw pain stopped but chewing food hurts and all the other pain/issues remain unfixed. I started to panic at the thought of her touching the tooth or even having to tell her I was in pain. At the end of the four-month, I could not use the treated molar for its intended purpose. I developed a phobia of dentists because of Dr. Becker. This phobia has forced me to neglect basic check-ups and time-sensitive scheduled treatment as I painstakingly search for a dentist. Every visit caused more injury. She tried to say treatment outcome can't be predicted. Maybe treatment outcome can't be guaranteed if she was treating cancer but hear we are talking about a crack on a molar and I should have had a restored molar that functions like a molar regardless of the pain - this should have been a guaranteed outcome at a minimum.