Dentist ruined my bite with NTI-- suggestions?

[Marrigold]

Hi everyone,
I found out that the NTI device my dentist recommended to me, and sold to me, caused an open bite. My dentist DID NOT INFORM me that these devices are known to cause an open bite in some patients and that I needed to be monitored closely by him. He KNEW that I am an expat living abroad and that my pattern of coming to his office for visits was once a year to once every year and a half. If a patient must be monitored closely when put on an NTI night guard, then he should have understood that I wasn't a good candidate. Clearly he was not considering the open bite issue at all. He simply told me to wear the device a night, and sent me on my way. I wore it at night for a year and half before I returned to the US and had a follow up with him. At that point I told him that I was experiencing a weird inability to form words clearly. This should have tipped him off. Now I know that this is a clear symptom of open bite! But guess what his response was? "See a speech therapist." Really? I am suddenly going to have trouble out of no where forming words when I am in my 50s?

It never occurred to me that the NTI device had anything to do with it. Since he'd never divulged to me the true information about this device, I had zero idea that it could cause an open bite.

Luckily I went to a dentist in Italy and he took one look in my mouth and said, "what the heck is going on?" He IMMEDIATELY asked me if I was utilizing a night guard. He explained that the NTI one, which covers only the front teeth is one he would NEVER recommend. He explained to me how and why it causes an open bite. I reached out to the dentist in the US, to let him know what had happened. He was defensive and unwilling to accept responsibility. He tried to blame me for not visiting him often enough, which is BS because he knows I have ALWAYS been an expat ever since I first started seeing him. He clearly had paid no attention to the information about the problems the NTI device can create. If he had, he would have recognized the "unable to form words" symptom that I shared with him.

The upshot is, I am told I need corrective treatment but can't afford it. I checked with some lawyers and they won't take it on as they feel they can't "prove" that my open bite was caused by the NTI. The NTI absolutely caused it. A look at my dental records shows I had no open bite before using the device. My Italian dentist says 100% for sure the NTI device caused it. But lawyers unfortunately won't go there, so now what?

The dentist gets away with negligence and I am told I need corrective treatment that I can't afford. Where do I go to complain further? Any suggestions?

And have any of you found a solution that's fixed your open bite for not a huge cost?

[djspeece]

Wow. I was not familiar with NTI until I just did some cursory research, but the treatment does seem to be a bit controversial. A similar issue to yours is found here https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/ ... i-tss-inc/. It didn't end well for the plaintiff. If I am correctly reading between the lines of your story I suspect that you have investigated legal remedies.

With that being said, I am very sorry you are going through this mess. Are you now stateside for good? (Forgive me if I missed that detail in your story.) I would only caution that sometimes you get what you pay for, and the least expensive route may not be the best for you. I am sure that you have considered this aspect. I can only recommend that you locate a dentist you trust and see if some sort of payment schedule could be arranged consistent with your present financial situation.

In any event, best of luck to you.

[Marrigold]

Thank you Dan for your kind reply and for passing the info to me about the law suit. It seems that every patient so far who has suffered from the NTI guard has had no recourse and this is frustrating to say the least.

Even if the manufacturer of that device claims that it is "rare" for it to cause an open bite, it IS happening. I have talked to a handful of dentists since it happened to me and they DO see it happening, and the "conscientious" dentists choose not to sell it to patients for that reason.

I am unfortunately left with facing the full cost of corrective treatment on my own, which will run about $8,000. My only recourse is to leave reviews on places like Yelp of the negligent dentist who sold me the device and provided no warning of its potential drawbacks.