AboutGlenn A. Dorfman Expertise Twenty-four years experience in personal injury, medical malpractice and medical product liability law. Practice currently concentrated on the diet drug (fen-phen) litigation. Qualified to answer all questions regarding injuries and the law, except for worker`s compensation.
Question Because of the shape of my mouth, my dentist said I was not a candidate for dentures, and needed full mouth reconstruction. After many thousands of dollars and three years work, I now have a mouth which has been altered to the point of total disfigurement. This has affected my life completely. I am now divorced, friendless, and unable to function in normal society. People are put off by my appearance, and those who know how I used to be avoid me because I make them uncomfortable. I have lost my family and friends and now know what it is like to have people treat me as invisible, or look quickly away, or even put their hands over their mouths in horror when they see me. I used to be pretty - now I am ugly. Is there anything that can be done?
Answer If the work on your mouth truly was "botched" such that no reasonably competent dentist would consider doing such work on you or, would never do the work in the way it was done.......in other words, the dentist was totally and clearly negligent............go see a medical malpractice attorney. It may be too late already however due to the Statute of Limitations. Your attorney would then need to find a dental expert to examine you and your dental records and be willing to testify that your dentist was negligent. This will no solve your biggest problem however.
But there is one other possibility that comes to my mind. Sorry to be so blunt but I haven't seen you before or after of course. Psychiatric help in any event would be helpful for you. I don't believe people look at you in horror, that you have lost friends and certainly not family over this. People aren't avoiding you. If things are as bad as you say, those friends and family feel sympathy for you and would never do anything to hurt you further. If they do, they are neither friends nor much in the way of family. Is is possible that your mouth is not as bad as you say or as bad as you think and that this reaction you sense from other people is, well, not how things really are? Think about it. If you won't, that in itself is a sign that you could use some counseling to see things in a more positive light. Good luck
