How do I get my Dental Lab records? Please help!?

I had major reconstructive dental work performed by a dentist. For legal reasons I can not say more about the dentist other than she does not have the complete contents of my dental lab records. The dentist ordered 28 crowns and veneers from a dental lab. The lab will not release the records to me because under law, dental labs are "wholesalers" and are responsible only to their customer... the dentist. I want to know what is the material content of my veneers and crowns and more importantly in which country they were manufactured. Can anyone tell me if it is possible to get this information? Is their a government agency? I know dental labs are unregulated, but it seems like as a consumer I should be able to determine what was cemented in my mouth. I even offered to have another dentist take possession of the records and the lab said no. I went as far as I could with the BBB, but in the end they can't help because labs are "wholesalers" etc.. Please help if you can. W.

How do I get my Dental Lab records? Please help!?
Contact the original dentist who did the work and ask that they request this information from the lab.
Reply:Consult with the Board of Dentistry in the state you live in. Many states have listings of complaints against dentists and dental labs. Talk to some nice secretary at the board to get more information.





Wow, you had a boatload of work done. I am curious about your concerns. There are labs that do have work done in foreign countries. The porcelain should be baked glass and shouldn't have any "off-gassing". The metals may be something different than was promised.
Reply:I'm sorry, but this is just humerous. Are you freaking out cause you think your lab work contains lead????





Hun, I can tell you that I have never worked with a dental lab that didn't do the work on sight. They may buy their materials, such as metal and porcelain from outside the US, but the actual prosthetic is made in their own lab. If it were made in another country, what would the labs purpose be, other than to be a middle man. If that were the case, the dentist would just go to another country for their lab work, and skip the labs in the US.





Also, I don't understand what you are meaning when you say the dentists "Lab record". What kind of lab records are you thinking they have?? When a dentist orders lab work, they fill out a prescription. Usually these are preprinted by the lab, and the dentist checks off what they are wanting done and what type of material. If they are doing an all porcelain type of crown, veneer, or whatever, they check the type of porcelain, such as Empress, Belleglass, or whatever it may be. Then they write any special instructions, such as "Make the canines 1mm longer than the centrals" or "add white spots on the incisal areas". These prescriptions do usually have a carbon copy that the dentist keeps, however they don't say exact amounts of what type of metal or the exact mixture of the porcelain. Usually the invoice doesn't even say this in any type of detail.





So from what you have said, I don't think the dentist is with-holding anything from you, she simply doesn't have the exact "material content" you are wanting, and chances are that if this is a US lab, they were "manufactured" in the US. Veneers are custom pieces. They are not manufactured. They are made by hand. True the lab may have some type of documentation of exactly what the material content of their materials are, but I have never seen a dentist have this in their possesion. Even if, as a consumer, you have the right to know what was cemented in your mouth, would you really understand it, or would your lawyer for that matter?





And by the way, dental labs are usually regulated.





Edit: If you truely think this dentist scammed you, then why are you on Yahoo Answers asking legal questions, when you should be going through your attorney? Your going to get answers from normal everyday people with no dental knowledge, and a few actual dental professionals.





If your dentist used a reputable lab, then they had to give them an actual prescription. Not a blank one like you suggest. If they didn't, then by all means, you may have a case. If you are truely in the middle of some huge lawsuit, then you don't need to be seeking legal advice from people who don't know details of your case, or who have never seen your records.





From what you have said about the case, you are saying the dentist screwed up your teeth. Then why, would the type of material used be what the problem is? I mean, instead of it being faulty work on the dentists side, such as cementing crowns or veneers with open margins, doing that many crowns and veneers without requiring you to wear an occlusal guard every single night, or not making sure your bite was right. The only reason why I could see why the type of materials used would even be an issue, was if a patient was saying that they develped an allergy or some type of reaction to the material, and I have never seen that happen. I don't know what kind of place you went to that used an off shore lab. I have never worked with any dentist whose lab sent their work off shore. If that is in fact the case, then I personally don't think that is too wise a decision. There are too many ways that something can go wrong when you are not in constant contact with the exact person making your patients crowns.





From my experience, and like I said this is really something your attorney, perhaps an attorney that specializes in dental or medical cases would be the best, needs to handle, the dentist doesn't have to deal directly with you anymore, once lawyers get involved. Your attorney may have to get a judge to order these records from the lab, because it is doubtful that the dentist would have anything more than a carbon copy of the original prescriptions. State law requires that a registered dental lab not do any lab work for a dentist without an actual prescription. This is what your dentist would have a copy of. They probably do not have a list of the actual content of the materials used, just a generic description, such as Empress porcelain. Like I said, a lawyer would probably have to get a judge to order the lab to release this info, because it is doubtful that the dentist actually does have this information in her possession.





And just a comment on the RDA's. I don't know what state you are in, but in my state (Texas) dental assistants DID NOT have to be registered until Sept. 1, 2007. So if you have been dealing with this for 2+ years, then chances are they didn't have to be registered. As long as they had their radiology certification, they didn't have to be registered, which means they could have in fact been assisting for 6 years or 6 months, and not be actually state registered. The requirement for dental assisants to be state registered is fairly new in the dental field. I was unregistered up until about 4-5 months ago. My knowledge, experience and training didn't change just because I got that state license. I still know just as much now, with it, as I did 2 years ago, without it. You said they posed as RDA's. Unless they actually told you "I am state registered", they had name tags on that said RDA, or they have a fake license hanging on the wall, then perhaps you just assumed they were registered, and didn't actually know for sure. Trust me, up until recently, being registered or not registered didn't mean squat in most states, in regards to dental assistants.

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