Dental bridge not staying in place. What are my rights?

Deebo99

I paid £1200 for a Maryland bridge to replace a canine. It fell out after a few days, was filed down and refitted, then it fell out, then refitted etc. The longest it has lasted is a week
Having had a bit of a Google, a lot of people seem to think using this type of bridge in this type of situation is doomed to failure. However, I was told that it could last up to 30 years, and for £1200 I'd expect a lot more. What can I do about this? I can't afford to write off all this money, and my appearance is now objectively worse than when I began treatment to improve my appearance. 

brook2jack2

Maryland bridges can fail and refuse to stay on , they can last a long time time , there is no way to tell until it goes on. Presumably the teeth have no fillings either side? 

Did you have a discussion with the dentist about treatment options eg implant , fixed bridge and the pros and cons of each? 

I presume the £1200 included some other treatment other than being solely the cost of the Maryland bridge, as you say your appearance is worse before you started treatment?

What happens next depends on the discussions you had with your dentist before treatment and what they have suggested as the next step, 

Deebo99

We discussed an implant but I couldn't afford it (he wanted over £6k). He sugggested a bridge as an alternative (the "cons" he warned me of were that "bridges can break" ) and I trusted it would be a viable treatment. Had I had any indication it wasn't a straightforward procedure with predictable and lasting results, I wouldn't have gone ahead. Why would I?

The treatment was the extraction of the existing canine, a temporary denture and the bridge itself

brook2jack2

I presume the canine that was taken out was a baby tooth? 
So the £1200 was for an extraction , a denture and the Maryland bridge , and presumably x rays and check up that makes more sense as £1200 is very expensive for a Maryland bridge by itself. 

If the tooth that came out was a  baby tooth it would have a very limited lifespan. Implant treatment is the gold standard , presumably you needed bone grafts as £6000 is expensive for just one implant , unless other treatment was included. If the teeth either side are untouched then a denture or adhesive bridge is the next least destructive option. Grinding down the teeth either side to make a fixed bridge has its own risks eg around a 25% chance of the tooth dying off. 

Toothsmith

So he told you 'bridges can break'?

Now you have a bridge that is breaking.

if the Maryland was a treatment that will last 30 yrs, what would be the point of inventing implants?

i think you have heard what you wanted to hear, and not what the dentist has actually told you. It would be a very silly dentist who would tell you an implant would last 30 yrs, never mind a Maryland! On average, a Maryland would last 6-8 years before falling off, but as Brook said, fixed bridges kill, on average 20% of the teeth prepared to support them. Even implants have about a 5% failure rate over 10 years! Nothing is assured or permanent.

You chose the least reliable in terms of long term survival, but the best in terms of doing the least harm to supporting teeth. So at least the chances of other teeth being harmed are pretty minimal. 

I think you need to have a talk with your dentist, and listen properly to the downsides of all the options. 'It could break' means it might break, and you could be one of the people who it will break on.

I have got patients for whom Maryland's have been very reliable for quite a lot of years. 27 is the longest I can think of off the top of my head. I also have some for whom they haven't been anywhere near as good. The problem is, apart from a few obviously bad bites for them, or obvious tooth grinders, it is extremely hard to pick out those who it will work for, and those who it won't before you actually try it. 

Deebo99

Toothsmith said:

if the Maryland was a treatment that will last 30 yrs, what would be the point of inventing implants?

i think you have heard what you wanted to hear, and not what the dentist has actually told you. 

 It would be a very silly dentist who would tell you an implant would last 30 yrs

Did I say he said that it was a treatment that will last 30 years?

I think you have read what you wanted to read and not what I actually wrote!

I've received a full refund anyway and will have a think about an implant over the next few weeks

Toothsmith

That sounds fair enough. 

If I have something like that happen, I tend to knock the price of what they've paid off the price of the thing I'd recommended they have. Keeps patients happy, and builds goodwill 

Undervalued

Deebo99 said:

Toothsmith said:

if the Maryland was a treatment that will last 30 yrs, what would be the point of inventing implants?

i think you have heard what you wanted to hear, and not what the dentist has actually told you. 

 It would be a very silly dentist who would tell you an implant would last 30 yrs

Did I say he said that it was a treatment that will last 30 years?

I think you have read what you wanted to read and not what I actually wrote!

I've received a full refund anyway and will have a think about an implant over the next few weeks

Your original post (1 March) makes no mention of a refund so you seem to have managed to resolve this very quickly yesterday.

I am pleased you are not out of pocket if the bridge was as bad as you say. Perhaps you could share your tips for getting a full refund so quickly in case anybody else encounter such poor dentistry?