FERGUSON, Mo. — It's the stuff of nightmares. Your teeth chipping, breaking and falling out of your mouth.
It happened to one Ferguson woman who sought help from a local dentist. But that woman said she didn't get help.
Instead, she told the I-Team that the dentist gave her pain and debt.
Investigative reporter PJ Randhawa stepped in and helped bring closure to the case.
For six months, Constance Morrow has eaten nothing but soup.
"I have to get a little bit at a time and chew with the front teeth," said Morrow, 68.
So why isn't Morrow chowing down on the crab legs she'd prefer? It started with a few bad teeth.
"I realized I had some teeth broken on the right side of my mouth and I needed a surgeon," Morrow said.
Morrow said she found a surgeon to extract 18 of her teeth. She also enlisted the help of Dr. Kamlesh Makwana with Klassik Dental in Ferguson to oversee the extraction plan and create new dentures for her.
After the surgery, Morrow woke up to a surprise.
"I could see that teeth were there that shouldn't be. I went and looked in the mirror and I could see they were kind of bent. I started licking my tongue and I could feel they were cracked," said Morrow.
That created another problem for Morrow: her new $3,200 dentures didn't fit.
"They look like fine baby teeth. The dentures were supposed to fill in the gaps in my mouth. But they didn't. I hated eating with them. Most of the food would get stuck underneath," said Morrow.
And what about her dentist?
"He didn't want to talk to me," said Morrow, who claims she tried to get some one-on-one time with Dr. Makwana multiple times and was refused.
So we paid a visit to Dr. Makwana's office to ask him about Morrow 's complaint.
Dr. Makwana declined to go on camera but he told us there may have been a simple miscommunication about the extraction plan for her teeth. He also said Morrow did not follow up with her post-op care as frequently as she was supposed to. He did say he was not at fault for her current problems.
Now Morrow will soon try her luck again. She has another extraction surgery scheduled, with a different dentist.
She's hopeful she'll be eating whole foods again soon.
But, those surgeries won't happen unless she gets some of the money back from Dr. Makwana's office.
"I want my daughter to get her money back, that she paid for those teeth," said Morrow.
After speaking with Dr Makwana, he agreed to give Morrow a full refund for her dentures.
Morrow said that money will make a huge difference as she now shops for new, more permanent and comfortable dentures.