Dentist Gave Me A Crown I Didn’t Ask For/approve

So I started seeing a new dentist December of last year. After my first visit I was given a treatment plan for three different visits; one would be an occlusal adjustment and two fillings, the second for a crown, and the third for a mouth guard.

I already knew I needed some fillings, but the crown was a surprise. I wanted a second opinion on that as I hadn’t had any problems with the tooth and a crown had never been suggested to me before (I go to the dentist every 6 months for cleanings/xrays/etc. and always have since I was old enough to). I went ahead and scheduled the first visit.

My appointment was today and it went pretty awful. The crown prep hurt (I actually had to raise my hand) so I was already on edge. The hygienist was using a 3D scanner, and I asked her what it was and she started explaining and mentioned the tooth they’d prepped for a crown. I was confused because I never said anything about a crown and neither did anyone in the office. I feel around and sure enough one of my molars has been completely shaved down.

Hygienist gets the doctor after a good 15-20 minutes and he didn’t really address the problem at all, just got back to work. I’m upset and in tears at this point and I ask what he’s doing. He explains he’s putting on the crown and they’ll work with me on a payment plan or something. I tell him I don’t want anything else done until we figure this out because I absolutely did not want a crown done, but obviously, I really don’t have a choice but to continue because the tooth is already shaved down.

I get to the front desk ready to fight at this point and they tell me the whole crown and procedure was free, I just had to pay for my fillings. That’s all fine and dandy, but now I have a crown that will eventually need replaced one day and I’ve lost most of one of my permanent teeth at 26 due to a “miscommunication”.

Do I have any recourse here? Or have I been made “whole” since they covered the crown? I’m mostly worried about what could crop up in the future and the fact this was done without any type of prior authorization.