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TMJ again: When I was about 24-years old my TMJ problem appeared to be returning, though it wasn't nearly as bad as it was the first time. I also noticed that my teeth were gradually getting shorter and I found out that I was clenching my jaw at night and grinding my teeth when I slept. I knew that I needed to go to a TMJ specialist to get a splint so that I wouldn't grind my teeth off. I didn't want to go back to Dr. "G" because I didn't want to deal with the mistress business again. So I went to Dr. "C." Dr. "C" confirmed that I had a slight TMJ problem and that I was grinding my teeth down. Dr. "C" made me a splint, but he forgot to tell me that if I wore it too long during the day that it would severely misalign my teeth and jaw. I wore the splint for too long. When I went back to Dr. "C" and told him about the problem he had nothing but insults and contempt for me. I should have come in more often and I should have known better and he had told me. He had NOT told me! No one had ever told me that anything like this could ever happen! I would have remembered a risk like this after all that I had been through already. I was hypersensitive to risk because of what I'd been through. There were a number of ways that Dr. "C" could try to repair the damage. There were braces for $5,000 plus. There were these little extensions that were glued or cemented to the molars and slowly wore down hopefully settling the alignment back into place for another massive sum of money. Then there was the cheapest solution of just grinding the teeth down until they all matched again. I didn't have a lot of money, Lee didn't care, and my parents weren't willing to pay for the two more expensive procedures or a lawyer to make Dr. "C" do the right thing because it was all my fault anyway. My years as a straight A super star student in college didn't account for anything in this situation either. I wasn't worth the repairs, not even enough to borrow the money from my parents. I declined the grinding and still live with the misalignment. The statute of limitations is up, so I can't do anything about what Dr. "C" did to me. Dr. "C" continues to have a thriving business. When I married Jim I had hoped that Jim would care, but he really didn't. Jim's favorite line would always be, "I can't afford it," even when he could. "I can't afford it," was never said with any regret for right or wrong, and it was never said with any hint of wishes to do better if he could. "I can't afford it," meant Jim didn't care one bit. It was Jim's catch all phrase. I still believe that if Dr. "C" had had any morals at all he would have repaired the damage for free the way that I wanted it repaired or he should have done it on a sliding fee scale or on payments that I could afford with the job that I had. Dr. "C" did not have any moral decency whatsoever. This is my opinion. |
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