Dr. Walker came highly recommended by several co-workers of mine. I had just lost my front tooth in an accident in July and needed a dental expert to examine me.
I saw Dr. Walker who agreed to treat my injury and promised that when he was done, no one would be able to tell anything ever happened to my tooth.
The first day I saw him, he examined the injury and the broken tooth. He said I had lost about 4 mm of bone and showed me the bone that was stuck to the broken crown. He bonded my crown to the two adjacent teeth and let me heal for six months.
In March Dr. Walker took x-rays to determine how I had been healing. He assured me that some of the bone had grown back, but not all of it. He placed an implant and surrounded it with "Perioglass, " a dental substance he guaranteed would grow the remaining bone back.
A few days later, my sutures were pulling at my upper lip and creating great discomfort. Unfortunately, Dr. Walker was on vacation, so I was scheduled to see his emergency dentist. He cut the suture from my upper lip and rebonded my loose tooth. That evening, the gum tissue from where the suture was cut opened up and created a hole allowing bacteria to enter.
I followed up with Dr. Walker when he returned and he told me not to worry. A few weeks later he performed a gum graft to cover the hole. It failed. Over the next six months, he performed two more gum grafts which both failed. He could not complete the treatment and leave me with a hole in my gum tissue. I had also noticed that the gum tissue where the implant was placed had a "sunken in" look to it. Dr. Walker claimed it was because of the hole and recommended I see a couple of periodontist collegues of his for opinions on how to do a gum graft to cover the hole.
Both periodontists gave me a thorough evaluation and determined that the implant was placed at the time when there was significant bone difficiency and when the hole in my gum tissue occurred, the bacteria ate away at the bone even more. What started out as a 4 mm bone loss had now increased to 8 mm. They determined the implant could not be saved and needed to be removed because there was not enough bone to support it and the bone loss was compromising the two adjacent teeth. Their recommendation was to remove the implant, have a bone graft done where bone would be taken from my jaw to replace the bone loss in my front tooth area, I would also need a couple of soft tissue grafts and after 7 months of healing and $6000 later, I might be a candidate for another implant. If not, I would have to go with a bridge. Either way, the implant had to be removed soon or further bone loss would occur.
I went to see an oral surgeon and another periodontist for second opinions. I did not share with them that I had seen two other periodontists or their findings. These two doctors concurred and gave almost identical opinions.
I returned to Dr. Walker who was surprised and disappointed by their evaluations. He went into denial about the suggested treatment by the four other doctors and asked me to wait until dental technology advanced enough to do a bone graft around the implant. Thereafter, he refused to meet with me to discuss any further treatment.
In March of I chose a periodontist and had the implant removed. The bone loss was even worse and had "spilled over" onto the two adjacent teeth. It cost $1500 to have the implant removed.
I sent a certified letter to Dr. Walker with the receipt of the implant removal requesting he pay for this. He responded with a refund of what I paid him to place the implant which was only $1064. It took two more letters to get him to refund my dental insurance company. I have sent several letters since then requesting that he pay for my bone and soft tissue grafts. Dr. Walker has responded in letters saying that he will pay for my continued treatment up to the condition I should have been in when I first came to see him.
In August I had the bone and soft tissue graft which cost an additional $3500. I sent those receipts to Dr. Walker requesting payment and have heard nothing back from him.
His mistake has comprimised my dental health and has been very costly to me overall. He refuses to take responsibility for his mistake. I just want to recover the expenses I have incurred to correct his mistake and restore my mouth.
Cheri
Tucson, Arizona
U.S.A.
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