In or about August 206 Dr. Dalton pulled a tooth to do a root canal to add a bridge. When he pulled the tooth my mouth was numb but I noticed an unusual amount of pressure and when it released Dr. Dalton even gasped and went a little backwards. Immediatly I felt there was something wrong but it was just an inner feeling at that point. I was fitted with a temorary bridge and the following week I kept having sharp shooting pains from the area the tooth was pulled from. The pains were like electrical shocks and would make me gasp. My coworkers also noticed this as they would turn around to see what was wrong and I would tell them about getting the tooth pulled and the pain. I went back to Dr. Dalton to complain about the pain and his Assistant told me was just normal and would take a couple of weeks and it would go away. I told her it was NOT normal and tried to explain the pain. She called Dr. Dalton into the office to hear my explanation and he immediately got angry at me and told me there could be nothing wrong and he stormed out of the exam room. The assistant came back in and I replied to her that I didn't understand why he got so angry at me. She again told me that the pain would subside. Well, it didn't and I went back several times to complain and to let them know it was getting worse. Also when they put in the bridge it was NOT the color of my teeth but quite a few shades lighter. Dr. Dalton did not want to replace the bridge because of the pains I was having so he gave me some tooth whitening to do at home to bring the shades of my other teeth up. Basically he did not want to take responsibility for what he had done or the pain I was in. Shortly after getting the bridework in I got pneumonia and was very sick and going to the Dr. For treatments and taking lots of pain killers, so the shooting pains were also being numbed. I was sick until about April/ May. I was out of sick time at work and it was hard for me to get to the Drs. After recovering from the pneumonia I noticed the pains in my mouth were continuing but they were progressively getting closer together and stronger.By the 1st of Jan. 2008 I had to have my husband rush me to the emmergency room as the pains were like electrical shocks that were so intense I didn't know what to do. I could not stop them and they were so severe I could not function. Luckily the Dr. At the hospital recognized the symtoms as being a damaged Trigeminal Nerve. Before diagnosing I told him about Dr. Dalton pulling the tooth and the problems I had had. The immergency Dr. Then went and did a printout of the Trigeminal Nerve which is a facial Nerve and one of the nerves is in the same area that the tooth was extracted. He gave me pain shots and some strong medication and told me to follow up with my family Dr. The following day I went to see Dr. Butler and he arranged for me to see a neurologist as he agreed it sounded like the trigemial nerve. He also prescribed some strong pain meds for me. At this point the pains were so severe and lasted so long that I was doubly up on the pain meds and basically a zombie. I went to see Dr. Gelber on Jan 09, who scheduled me for Brain Surgery. I had two options. 1) Gamma Knife Surgery or 2) Invasive Brain Surgery where they actually go in and cut the nerve to kill it which would be invasive and could damage other areas of the brain. They suggested the Gamma Knife Surgery BUT also said that it may not be sucessful and it could also return and sometimes does. Some patients never have it return and others have to go through Gamma Knife surgery in another two years. They wanted to do the surgery the following day but we had to wait for approval from Blue Cross. So for two more weeks I was a zombie. I could not wash my face, brush my teeth, eat, take a shower. Any slight breeze or wrong movement would trigger the pain. I could nto cry as it would intensify the pain. It was like being in an electric chair and not knowing when someone was going to turn the switch on or off or how long they would leave it on. I had to miss two months of work with no pay. I suffered pain that is indescribable. Dr. Gelbers receptionist told me that before the Gamma Knife Surgery 80% ot the patients with this diagnosis commited suicide. I can understand as I was close to that myself. I strongly believe that Dr. Dalton damaged the Trigeminal Nerve when he pulled the tooth to do the root canal. The pain started immediately after that. I notified him constantly of the pain as I had no clue what was causing it. From the beginning Dr. Dalton did not want to take responsibility for the pain I was haveing. He also did not want to replace the bridge that was several shades lighter than my normal teeth. I still have the bridge. Prior to that I had never had one of those sharp shooting pains. I have witnesses at my previous place of employment that remember me gasping when the pains started and remembering me just having the dental work done. There is no guarantee that I will not have to go through another painful episode or surgery.
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