Dental Malpractice Cases

*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals involved.

Case 1
Mr. R. is eating breakfast when one of his upper front crowns falls out. His regular dentist was on vacation, so he went to the Yellowpages, found a big impressive full-page ad for Dr. C. and made an appointment. Dr. C. takes one look, tells Mr. R that the tooth has to come out, and while an implant and crown would be OK, the rest of his upper teeth (Mr. R. has crowns on all of his upper teeth) really should be remade because they look ugly. Dr. C. sells Mr. R on a $14,000 re-do job on the top. They get to work. Nothing goes right, after many attempts to finish the job, Mr. R. gets annoyed and goes to another dentist for a second opinion. Shock! Dr. C. did such negligent work that Mr. R. has to lose all of his upper teeth, undergo bone grafts, multiple implants, 14 new crowns. About 60K to repair Dr. C's negligent work, and it will never be as good or comfortable as Mr. R's natural teeth. If this wasn't bad enough news, it is obvious that Dr. C. lied to Mr. R. from day one. The one cracked tooth could have been repaired with a root canal, post and a new crown for $2,000. Mr. R's other upper crowns were perfect, they didn't have to be remade, and Mr. R was happy with their appearance. Dr. C. sold Mr. R. a lie, and then proceeded to ruin his teeth.

Update
Currently in litigation.

Case 2
Mr. F. has a horrible toothache, and goes to Dr. J, a local dentist.. Dr. J needs about 1.5 hours to remove an impacted wisdom tooth. Mr. F was never fully numbed up, and experienced pain throughout the procedure. After the anesthetic wore off, Mr. F's tongue is numb. He tells Dr. J. Dr. J prescribes anitbiotics and pain medication. The numbness doesn't go away. Mr. F (35 years old) will have half of his tongue numb for the rest of his life. He can't talk properly, he has trouble chewing and swallowing his food, and his tongue just feels strange (think of unending pins and needles feeling in your tongue). Dr. J should have referred Mr. F to a neurologist to evaluate the numbness. If Mr. F had been given the proper drugs in time, or if he had undergone a simple nerve repair procedure, the numbness probably would have cleared up.

Update
Currently in litigation.

Case 3
Unnecesary root canal, done badly. Mr. D. lost the tooth.

Update
Settlement, sufficient to pay for the repair and some extra money for Mr. D. to compensate him for his pain and loss of the tooth.

Case 4
Ms. F sees Dr. R to replace a lower molar. Dr. R puts an implant into the area and makes Ms. F a crown that doesn't fit. As a result, Ms. F loses both the new crown and the implant due to a large infection. The infection is so large that all the bone around the implant is lost. There isn't enough bone for a new implant, so Ms. F must wear a removable denture, rather than a permenenetly cemented crown.

Update
Currently in settlement discussions.

Case 5
Mr. L sees Dr. E for dental work. Dr. E, being a really busy dentist seeing patients in three chairs at the same time, asks his associaite dentist, Dr. A to do Mr. L's work. Dr. A does the work, but it is all defective and must be re-done. In addition to needing a major reconstruction to repair Dr. A's work, it turns out that Dr. A is a licensed dentist, just not in the USA.

Update
Currently in settlement discussions, with possible criminal charges to follow.

Case 6
Ms. H. sees Dr. P for routine dental work. Dr. P. suggests three crowns and one root canal on Ms. H's lower right side. Dr. P does the work, but the crowns keep falling out. It turns out that the root canal and two out of the three crowns were totally unnecessary. Fillings would have been perfect. The crowns that Dr. P made had to be re-done.

Update
In settlement discussions. Charges of fraud and a violation of Florida's Unfair Trade Practices Act may follow.