I began getting my cleanings completed every 6 months and getting the work done that he said I needed. When I wondered aloud why my old dentist never said I needed all of this work, his assistant, told me that they got many patients from my old dentist that needed work done - that because my old dentist was getting older, he sometimes missed things. Over the next several months, he started to replace some of my silver fillings and he re-root canalled my #18 tooth.
In February of 2001, I went to his office so he could complete the post and crown for my #18 tooth. He informed me he could make a custom-made crown in his office. He said it saved the patient money because you cut out the middleman, and they are better than crowns that you send out to the lab. So, he proceeded to put a "custom-made" crown on my #18 tooth. He even gave me a mirror when he was done so I could see it. As he was finishing up, I heard him say to one of his assistants, “She needs to be scheduled for a re-root canal.” I asked him if he was talking about me and he said, “Yes, you need a re-root canal on tooth #3.” I pointed to the tooth in my mouth and asked, “This tooth?” He said “Yes.” I asked “Why, because it doesn’t bother me.” He said “The more I look at your x-rays, the more I don’t like what I see with tooth #3. There is something about it that bothers me, it has bothered me from the beginning. If you wait until it starts hurting you, you’ll probably end up losing the tooth.” I told him, “The dentist that root canalled the tooth told me one of the roots was calcified and could that be what he was seeing on the x-ray.” He said, “No. The tooth needs to be re-root canalled.” So, on March 12, 2001, I went in to have the re-root canal of tooth #3. After almost two hours, the dentist told me the tooth was crumbling, and that it was a bad tooth, and he would have to pull it. I asked him was there anything I could do, because I didn’t want to lose a tooth, and I would do anything to keep it. He said no, that it was a bad tooth, and he needed to pull it right away. I told him it was my daughter’s birthday and I was not going to have my tooth pulled that day, and I’d have to get it done another day. He told me I would get a bridge after he pulled the tooth. On April 10, I went in to have the tooth pulled. I asked him if I really needed it pulled, because it still didn’t bother me. I asked if he could just put a crown on it. He said I was lucky it didn’t bother me, because it was so bad and needed to be pulled. The extraction took almost 2-½ hours. The dentist had to numb me several times during the extraction and was really digging around. I received stitches afterwards.
On Thursday, April 12, the extraction site was very painful. I called the office and left a message. Later the hygienist from his office called me back. She told me Dr. Cicero was away, and to put olive oil and garlic, mixed together, on the socket. I followed these instructions but it did not help lessen the pain. The next day I called back, and she said she would phone in a prescription to my pharmacy for an antibiotic. Even with the antibiotic the pain did not go away. On Monday morning, I went in to his office. He looked at my mouth and immediately removed the stitches and gave me Novocain to numb the area. He then started scraping out the sockets for 5-10 minutes. Then he told me he was going to put medicine into the socket and he put a plaster material from tooth #2 to tooth #4, so the #3 socket was covered. He told me to come back on Thursday to have it checked on. Thursday morning I went to his office and he removed everything off the socket, numbed my mouth and then scraped the socket for about 5-10 minutes. Then he took a drill and drilled into the socket area. He said he got a blood clot going, had me bite on gauze, and told me to return on Saturday.
Saturday morning I went to his office and he looked at my mouth and told me it was infected. He numbed my mouth and then started scraping the socket. Then he put more medicine in the socket area and used some kind of plaster material to seal the area. He asked me if I was sure I wasn’t a diabetic. I told him I wasn’t and asked if it was serious and should I go to my doctor. He said no, it’s just dry socket, but your immune system must be really low. I then had to return every few days for them to check on it. On one of the visits I told him that I was getting headaches and pain in my right eye. He said the pain had nothing to do with the extraction. When I was leaving, the hygienist asked me what pharmacy I used because she was going to call in a prescription for an antibiotic for me. A couple of weeks later, he took the packing out. He numbed me, scraped the socket and drilled into the bone. I had to return to be checked a few days later. He said it was doing ok. I asked him when I could get my bridge. He said I had to wait 8 months to one year. I continued going to his office to continue getting my silver fillings replaced and to get my cleanings done over the next 8 months.
At the beginning of 2002, I asked him if I could get my bridge. He said I had to wait until all of my silver fillings were replaced before getting the bridge. He told me the bridge would go from tooth #2 to tooth #5, because #4 was so weak. I told him my mouth was getting sore from only chewing on one side for so long.
On May 28, 2002 my #4 tooth broke in half. I called the office immediately and made an appointment for the next Thursday. By the next day, the area was starting to hurt and ping. On Thursday I saw a new associate at the office. He put me on an antibiotic and told me to see if the pain left then. He also said I should get my bridge as soon as possible. For a few days the pain seemed to get better, but then it started getting bad again. I called the office and asked if I should be put on another antibiotic. They told me to come in, and the dentist would see me. I had read on the internet that root canalled teeth should always be crowned, because they lose their blood supply and get brittle, and are prone to breakage.
When I went in to the office a few days later, I asked him if this was why my #4 tooth broke and asked him why it wasn’t crowned. He said that wasn’t why my tooth broke. He said I must clench my teeth. I said I know I don’t clench my teeth. He told me, “Well, you must clench them at night in your sleep.” He then took a flashlight and shined it in my mouth, saying to his assistant, “Wow, look at all of those cracks in her teeth. She’s lucky they are not all broken.” He said “You definitely clench your teeth, from all of the cracks I see.” He said I would need a mouth guard if I hoped to save my teeth. He then started to try to build up my tooth #4 by putting material under the gum; to see if that would help with the pain. He said if this didn’t work he would have to pull it. I told him I would do anything to save my tooth. I told him the prior extraction had really scared me, and I didn’t want another one. He then swabbed my mouth with a liquid. I asked what it was, and he said it was medication to calm the nerves in my mouth. After that, he made molds for the mouth guard.
After a few days, the pain got worse and spread throughout my whole mouth. It was a kind of pain I never had felt before. I went back to the office and told him the pain was worse and I felt like I had a cavity in every tooth. He said I must have fractured the root of tooth #4, and that it would need to be pulled. Again I asked if there was anything else I could do, because I didn’t want to have another tooth pulled, and the extraction from the year before had scared me . He said this extraction would be easier, the only way to get rid of the pain was to pull the tooth, and that it was “no big deal; we’d just add it to the bridge“. I said but then I have to wait another year to get the bridge, according to what he said previously. He said if it all healed, he’d do the bridge quicker, and that it would extend from tooth #2 to tooth #6. He also gave me my mouth guard on that visit. On June 13, I had the tooth pulled and received stitches. The extraction took almost a hour and a half. The dentist again brushed that medicine through out my mouth, and said the extraction was harder than he thought it would be. I already had an appointment scheduled for Monday, June 17, to have my remaining silver taken out. He told me to keep that appointment, and he would also check on my stitches at the same time.
On June 17, I went to my appointment. One of the dental assistants brought me in a room and put a swab in my mouth to numb me for the Novocain. Then the dental hygienist came in and asked me how I was doing. I told her I was having a lot of pain in my whole mouth, and my right eye and cheek. She said I most likely had an infection and the doctor would most likely put me on an antibiotic. The assistant came in a few minutes later and took the swab out of my mouth. About 10 minutes later, the dentist came in. I told him about the pain and I also told him that the stitch he had wrapped around the tooth next to the extraction site was very sore. He told me everything looked fine, the pain was normal, and I should massage the area. Then he picked up the Novocain needle and at the same time started yelling and swearing for his dental assistant. He yelled, “God damn it. Will someone get the hell in here and help me?” At the same time, he uncapped the needle, and threw the cap over my head, and jabbed the needle into my mouth. The assistant came running in and he started yelling at her, “God damn it, you have an uncapped needle in here, and you’d better find it.” He told her to clean out my mouth, and as he left the room, he swung his arm over the counter and pushed everything onto the floor. The assistant was so flustered she started spraying my whole mouth, and I had to stop her because I had stitches. I told her I was leaving and she said it was a good idea. As I was walking through the reception area, the hygienist ran after me and followed me outside. She grabbed my arm and tried to pull me back in. She said “He needs to be taught a lesson and learn he can’t get away with things like this” and that I should come back inside and tell him face to face. I told her to let me go, that I was not going back in, and that after what I had just seen, I was never going to let him work on my teeth, and that I was going to go to another dentist. She begged me not to go to another dentist; to give the dentist another chance. I told her no and walked away.
Later that evening, he called my house and spoke to my husband. He apologized and said he was having a bad day, his laser broke, and the mother of a girl he was putting braces on was hounding him to hurry up so they could get home for dinner. He called a few more times and also sent me a letter.
The next morning, June 18th, I went to another dentist She told me I had an infection. She also told me I needed dental work to fix what the other dentist had done. She put me on an antibiotic and sent me to an oral surgeon. The oral surgeon had to open the extraction site twice to take dead bone and tissue out. It was still very painful and would not heal.
Another oral surgeon felt that the extraction site of # 3 was worse than # 4. In April 2003 the site was opened up again for cultures. I also was put on a picc line so I could give myself IV antibiotics. I had the picc line for three months. I was also on oral antibiotics, and at times oral steroids. My infectious disease doctor felt the oral surgeon did not go deep enough and suggested I go to a teaching hospital.
In May 2003 I went to The University of Pennsylvania Hospital. The site was opened up under general anesthesia. My oral surgeon told me I had dead mushy bone and the infection had perforated the sinus floor. He put acrylic tobramycin cement in the site. I also started HBO therapy and did 37 dives. Over the next 10 months the cement was replaced and any bad bone and tissue was taken out. This was done about 6 to 7 times. The site was closed and in May 2004 I started having bad pain. I was still on many oral antibiotics and steroids. I felt it was spreading to the next tooth. I started having pus and blood weeping out of my gums. The infection started breaking through to the outside of my face so I was put back on IV antibiotics. I had this picc line for six months.
In December 2004 the site was opened up. There were multiple sinus tracks, bad bone and tissue, and my tooth # 5 tooth was dead. It was cleaned out and I had # 5 root canalled. The following week on Dec. 31, 2004 they had to lance an abscess to drain it. In March of 2005 the site was opened up to get cultures and to be cleaned out. The oral surgeons wanted to extract the teeth next to the site, # 2 and # 5 teeth. I wouldn’t let them because there was no plan to replace the bone or teeth. I could not even wear a partial denture due to the condition of my bone. I saw ENTs and oral surgeons that told me the only option for me was a complete resection followed by a free flap transfer. They suggested I see a head and neck surgeon.
In March of 2006 the two teeth were extracted, all the bone in my right maxilla was removed, and I received fibula- free- flap transfer. I developed an infection after the operation and had many complications. I have had other surgeries since then. I will always be on multiple antibiotics.
In all I have lost four teeth, my medical insurance has paid over $500,000.00, I have paid over $400,000.00 myself, I have done 70 hyperbaric oxygen dives, I have had over15-20 CT scans, 3 MRIs, 3 Bone scans, 15 panorexes, and numerous x-rays. I have had about 25 surgeries in all.
I am the one that found out that Sargenti Paste was used on me. I reported the dentist to the NJ Dental Board in August 2002 and I filed a lawsuit against him. On Feb. 9, 2005 he was deposed by my lawyer. While I was reading the deposition I noticed that he would not explain what the root canal filler that was used on my # 4 tooth was. This was on my first visit on March 28, 2000. He said that RC-2W was one of his favorites, and he had experience with it, but he could not remember what it was.
I looked it up on the internet and found that RC-2W is another name for root canal fillers containing Paraformaldehyde. Other names that it is known by are, Sargenti Paste, N2, N2 Normal, N2 Medical, N2 Universal, N2 Apical, RC-2B, TCM, White One-Step Endodontic Formula, and Endodilato. These fillers are known to cause exactly what I have.
The dentist even belonged to a group of dentists that use Sargenti Paste on unsuspecting patients, the American Endodontic Society. (http://aesoc.com/)
This is not an accepted or recognized dental group. The real endodontics group in the United States is the American Association of Endodontists. They are against the use of Sargenti Paste.(http://www.aae.org/)
The dental community have told me they had no idea there was anyone in the US still using the Paste.
It has been over SEVEN years and my dental board complaint is STILL ongoing.
Injured patients should file an adverse event report with the FDA.
Absent
reports from the public, the FDA will not realize the extent
of the dangers
of Sargent Paste. Click here to file report. Also ask
your doctor to file a
report on your behalf. Since reports are
voluntary over 90% of adverse events go unreported.