I've got a toothache

So I’ve written a few posts now about bad customer service.  A friend of mine called me to tell me about an experience she had.  I decided to share it here in the hopes that this won’t happen to anyone else.  Okay, she went to the dentist a few months ago.  When she was finished she noticed there was a hole between two molars.  However, the dentist didn’t mention it.  He did mention a couple of other issues, thus she decided it must not be a big deal and decided to ignore it.  Well, a few weeks ago she started to have pain.  Since food has been getting stuck in the hole since her last appointment, her initial thought was something was stuck she hadn’t been able to get out.  But after a few days, she realized this wasn’t the problem.  Fine, she makes another appointment with the dentist.  At the dentist’s they tell her a filling is chipped and they didn’t do it.  She politely explains again (since she had told them when she first got in there the same thing) how when she was in there last she went in without a hole and left with one.  Well, the dentist said if that was the case, she would’ve said something and they would’ve noted it on the chart.  She was astounded that they expected her to know what a chipped filling feels like and to have let them know they had chipped one.  Then they try to tell her she chipped it with a toothpick after she had left the office.  They refuse to fix the problem unless she pays them hundreds of dollars.  She said she just got up and left and found another dentist.  I was like, buyer beware.  We put so much faith and trust in doctors, nurses, dentists.  Maybe we put to much trust there.  This tale makes me think twice about the next time I need to go any appointment.  When I leave does anything seem to be not quite right?  If not whom do I tell?  What if they don’t listen to me?  Because I have a feeling this dentist might not have acknowledged this problem even if my friend had spoken up right away.  They seem to not want to take responsibility for anything.  Nope, this problem is far beyond a simple customer service problem.  It’s one thing for a grocery clerk to squish a banana.  It’s quite another for a person cleaning your teeth to chip a filling.  I guess the only solution to this problem is to be our own best advocates.  Learn all we can about everything.