Atlanta Injury Lawyers Blog

I've been litigating malpractice cases for almost 20 years, and I have to say that it doesn't get much worse than this: using a stainless steel paperclip in place of a stainless steel post during a root canal treatment. A dentist who admits that he made such appalling substitutions in the course of dental treatment, is set to be sentenced.

Last week, dentist Michael Clair pleaded guilty to a range of charges. He admits that he used part of a paperclip in place of stainless steel posts to support a root canal on a patient.
Besides dental negligence, Clair faces several other charges. According to investigators, he fraudulently billed Medicaid by performing dental procedures and having other dentists in his practice bill it to Medicaid. In all, he allegedly defrauded Medicaid of approximately $130,000 between August 2003 and June 2005. During this time, he had been prohibited from working on Medicaid patients.

The charges also included drug charges against him. He used to prescribe addictive painkillers like hydrocodone and Perocet to members of the staff. The staff would procure the medications and give some of them to him.

Continue reading "Dentist Who Used Paper Clips in Treatment to be Sentenced " »

Being a pro wrestler doesn’t help you deal with the mess that is left behind after a dentist has been negligent. Hulk Hogan found this out the hard way. The pro wrestler last week underwent surgery to remove a metal tack that had been left in his mouth after a dental procedure.

According to Hulk Hogan, in October, he underwent dental surgery to get implants. First, the dentist performed a sinus graft that placed a donor bone in the mouth. The donor bone was meant to support the implant. When the implantation process began, the doctor removed the mold, and in the process also tore out about 50 stitches from the donor bone procedure.

After the implantation procedure, Hogan suffered a number of problems, including severe discomfort and pain. The wound became infected, and even a course of antibiotics did not help.

Continue reading "Hulk Hogan Needs Surgery to Remove Effects of Dental Negligence" »

A retired dentist, who earlier this year settled a wrongful death dental negligence lawsuit arising from the death of a teenager under his care, is being sued again by another patient.

A lawsuit filed in December accuses 81-year-old Henry Mazarow of dental negligence. The lawsuit has been filed by a woman, who says that she went to the dentist for treatment in December 2010. She suffered serious injuries, including seizures, neurological damage and other devastating injuries while undergoing treatment at the doctor's clinic. Some of her injuries were permanent. The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $25,000.

It must seem like déjà vu for the 81-year-old Dr. Mazarow. In October, his insurer settled a dental wrongful death lawsuit with the family of a teenager who died while undergoing a dental procedure at his office. The parents of the 13-year-old girl had filed a lawsuit against him after their daughter died while under sedation during the surgery. The girl had visited the doctor to have 2 teeth removed, and was given a combination of sedatives. During the procedure, the girl collapsed, and was rushed to the hospital. She was immediately placed on a ventilator, but died a few days later. The cause of her death was ruled as diffuse hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.

Continue reading "Dentist Sued Again for Dental Negligence" »

The parents of a 17-year-old girl, who died while she was undergoing oral surgery, have filed a lawsuit against the oral surgeon and anesthesiologist involved in the procedure.

The death occurred in March this year, when 17-year-old Jennifer Jenny Michelle Olenick visited the dentist's office of Domenick Coletti for the surgery. According to the report by the chief medical examiner, she was first given a standard dose of anesthesia. However, the dose was insufficient to get her completely sedated. She was then administered an additional dose of anesthesia. This was also part of standard procedure.

However, when the procedure was underway, she began to experience bradycardia, a slowing down of her heart rhythm. This was followed by a drop in the oxygen saturation in her blood. She went into hypoxic arrest, and at this point, the doctors called in emergency personnel. Olenick was then rushed to the hospital, where she was in a coma for a few days. She died on April 6.

Continue reading "Parents of Teen Who Died during Oral Surgery File Dental Negligence Lawsuit" »

As an Atlanta personal injury lawyer, a large part of my legal practice is devoted to helping those injured by dental malpractice. Many of these injuries occur secondary to the placement of dental implants. Dental implants are preferred for tooth restoration over dental bridges because they are esthetically more appealing and have the functioning ability of real teeth. And though generally considered safe, the procedure does present some risk to the patient. Some reports indicate that as many as 13% of all implant procedures result in some type of nerve injury.

Serious nerve injuries often occur when dentists drill past the jawbone into the inferior alveolar nerve or actually position the implant itself on the nerve. The usual symptoms are numbness, severe pain, and/or discomfort in the patients mouth or face that was not felt prior to the placement of the implant. Therefore, proper location of the nerve prior to performing the procedure is necessary and required under the applicable standard of care.

The most commonly employed method used in finding the position of the nerve is a radiograph, but tomograph and computerized tomography is similarly used. According to the Journal of Implantology, correctly measuring the available bone or the simple use of a drill guard can preclude over penetration.

For well over 25 years, a safety zone of two millimeters has been prescribed between the drill depth for the implant and the jaw nerve beneath. When a patient is injured, ascertaining the cause of the problem will determine the necessary response. And a three dimensional cone beam (CBCT) x - ray can verify if the jaw nerve was reached during drilling.

Continue reading "Georgia Dental Implants Discussion" »

This dentist doesn't seem to be too keen on waiting till complaints against her evolve into a full-fledged dental malpractice lawsuit. According to a lawsuit that has been filed against Dr. Stacy Makhnevich, she attempted to prevent patients from commenting on her dental work online, and then retaliated against them when they did.

The lawsuit has been filed against the dentist who also happens to moonlight as a classical singer, by former patient Robert Lee. According to the lawsuit, he visited Dr. Makhnevich with a dental problem, and was surprised when she asked him to sign an agreement not to criticize her work online. The agreement called the Mutual Agreement to Maintain Privacy had to be signed before she agreed to work on his tooth.

Lee signed the agreement, and then went on the website Yelp to accuse her of shoddy work. According to his criticism posted on Yelp, she overcharged him by as much as $4,000. His exact comments were ‘Avoid at All Costs!.’ The dentist accused him of breaching their agreement, and retaliated by billing him $100 for every day that the negative comment on Yelp remained posted.

Continue reading "Dentist Sued for Trying to Silence Patience Criticism" »

New technologies now help dentists locate minor abnormalities that may or may not ultimately turn into full-blown cavities. These problems do not require dental filling procedures, but far too many dentists recommend these anyway.

The New York Times is reporting on increasingly sophisticated dental technologies that allow the detection of minor abnormalities, like incipient carious lesions. An incipient carious lesion is one of the earliest stages of structural damage, usually caused by bacterial infections. These infections may or may not lead to a full-blown cavity. In some cases, the lesion can be treated by minerals in the saliva.

Many experts are of the opinion that these minor cavities do not need to be treated with a dental filling because damage to the enamel has not yet begun. However, a majority of dentists do not hesitate to operate on a tooth that has minor damage, and decay that has not progressed beyond the enamel. These treatments are not only painful, but also expensive.

Some incipient carious lesions cannot be seen with x-rays or the naked eye, but can be detected through fiber-optic techniques and infrared laser scanning. By using these techniques, dentists now find it possible to locate minor cavities that do not require filling, and proceed to perform these procedures anyway.

Continue reading "Too Many Dental Fillings Are Unnecessary" »

No Atlanta dental malpractice lawyer would doubt that modern sedation techniques are safer and more effective than before. Yet every year, there are far too many cases involving patients developing serious or even fatal complications after being administering anesthesia. According to a new article in Anesthesia Progress, the risks are especially great when patients have existing medical conditions.

Before performing a dental procedure on a person with a pre-existing medical condition, Atlanta dentists must evaluate the patient's eligibility for anesthesia. A dentist who is treating a patient suffering from cardiovascular disease, must have a complete review of the patient's medical history. This must be followed by a physical examination, including a recording of the blood pressure and heart rate.

After this, the dentist must make an informed decision about whether the patient is eligible for a procedure. The researchers advise dentists to refer the patient back to a physician, if they have any doubts about the patient's eligibility for the procedure, even if that means delaying the procedure. Once the anesthesia is administered, any significant changes in blood pressure readings must be monitored closely.

Continue reading "Atlanta Dentists Need to Take Precautions before Sedating Patients with Pre-Existing Medical Conditions" »

The family of a four-year-old boy in California, who died after a dental procedure, is still looking for answers about the reasons for his death. The boy had been taken to a dentist in Oakland, for tooth extractions and dental capping. He was administered a dental anesthetic. However, things worsened rapidly from then on. The boy slipped into unconsciousness, and despite efforts to revive him, died.

The boy had been born with a cardiac defect, involving a hole in the wall separating the right and left ventricle of the heart. When he was about a year old, he had a pacemaker installed. According to his family, he was in good health after he had the pacemaker installed.

The family says that the doctors at the hospital where the dental procedure was performed were aware of the boy’s medical history, because it was the same hospital where he has had his open-heart surgery. Every six months, he visited the hospital for a cardiac checkup.

Continue reading "Family of Boy Who Died after Dental Anesthesia Seeks Answers" »

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is concerned enough about a series of recent infections at outpatient oncology clinics, to release a set of guidelines for the prevention of these infections.

Cancer patients are at a high risk of infections because of immunosuppression caused not only by the tumor, but also by the chemotherapy. Patients with cancer are in frequent contact with healthcare settings, and with other patients who may suffer from infections. Therefore, these persons are at a high risk of contracting potentially deadly infections. Infections can be debilitating in cancer patients who are in a weakened state, and lack the physical strength to tolerate infections.

According to the CDC, in recent years, the bulk of cancer treatment has shifted to outpatient oncology clinics and cancer centers. As many as 1 million cancer patients every year are treated in these outpatient centers. Unfortunately, while Atlanta medical malpractice lawyers have found a strong focus on reducing the number of hospital-acquired infections, infection risks in outpatient centers have been ignored. In recent years, there have been a number of infection outbreaks at outpatient oncology clinics. These have been the result of poor hygiene, lack of sterile medical equipment, reuse of needles, reuse of single use vials and a host of other factors.

Continue reading "CDC Campaign To Minimize Outpatient Oncology Clinic Infections" »

The family of a thirteen-year-old girl, who died while she was undergoing dental surgery, has settled a wrongful death lawsuit for $1 million.

The incident occurred at a dental office on December 21, 2010, when thirteen-year-old Melissa Kingery was undergoing surgery. The girl had been administered general anesthesia, and during the surgery, suddenly stopped breathing. She died soon after.

Autopsies later confirmed that the death was the result of complications arising from anesthesia use. The girl suffered diffuse hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy from respiratory arrest brought on by anesthesia complications.

Her parents filed a lawsuit against the dentist, an 81-year old man. His insurance company has now settled the lawsuit for $1 million. The settlement was brought about through the help of the State Dental Board which negotiated between the parties and approved the final settlement. The settlement will be shared by the parents of the girl.

Continue reading "Family Settles Dental Negligence Lawsuit for $1 Million" »

As an Atlanta dental malpractice lawyer, I come across cases involving negligence by dental professionals every day. In many of these cases, patients might have been able to avoid the trauma of a dental injury if they had been aware of some of the warning signs of a negligent professional.

According to MNN.com, there are certain signs that should alert you to the possibility that your dentist may not be as professional as he needs to be.

Your dentist should take a complete medical history before he decides to recommend a treatment. Oral treatments are no laughing matter. Some oral conditions can affect a person's cardiac health, while certain medical conditions like arthritis, can affect a person's dental health. A complete medical history can inform your dentist about a condition that could impact the success of the procedure or treatment.

Continue reading "Watch out for Signs of Dental Negligence " »

Injury to the lingual nerve (LN) is a common result from Dental Malpractice. A number of oral and maxillofacial surgical procedures result in damage to the the Trigeminal Nerve, Lingual Nerve or Inferior Alveolar Nerve. The most common signs or symptons of dental nerve damage is numbness (about half) followed by numbness with pain (about 40%).

Other changed sensations following dental nerve injury include shooting pains in your mouth, the feeling that your tongue is burning, aching, extreme sensitivity and pain when exposed to cold, an inability to taste foods and a "pins and needles" feeling when eating.

If you have suffered from a dental nerve injury, it is important to seek medical intervention as soon as possible. The longer your symptoms last, the less likely it is that you will regain full sensation in the affected areas of your mouth. Regardless of what you have been told, there are courses of treatment that can help you regain the feeling in your mouth, tongue, cheek and gums.

Continue reading "Lingual Nerve Injuries Common in Dental Malpractice Cases" »

Atlanta dental malpractice lawyers have found the failure of the Food and Drug Administration to warn the public adequately about the dangers of mercury dental fillings or amalgam fillings, perplexing. The calls for the agency to limit the use of mercury fillings, or warn the public about the risks of these fillings, are getting louder.

This month, dentists, consumers and health care experts are calling on the agency to warn consumers about the risks of these fillings. Among the people adding their voices to these calls is a woman, who alleges that her children were severely harmed by the mercury fillings that were inserted into her teeth during her pregnancies.

It's not as if scientists, environmental groups and health experts do not agree on the risks to human health from mercury exposure. There is an almost unanimous opinion that exposure to mercury damages human health and risks the environment. However, in spite of this evidence, the Food and Drug Administration has been painfully slow to act on the matter.

Continue reading "Calls for Action Against Mercury Dental Fillings Grow Louder" »

An ex-Marine, who was left severely injured after a stroke that resulted from a botched dental surgery, has been awarded $17.5 million in damages.

The Marine, Christopher Ellison, had visited a Veterans Administration Medical Center for dental surgery in 2007. He needed to have at least eight teeth removed. While he was undergoing surgery for the removal of the teeth, his blood pressure began plummeting. However, the dentist did not stop the surgery as he should have.

After the surgery, when Ellison was driving back home, he suffered a stroke. He was driving alone, and was not in any position to rush to the hospital for emergency treatment. As a result of the dental malpractice, he suffered severe brain damage, and now needs twenty-four hour care.

Last week, a federal judge awarded him $17.5 million. According to Assistant US Atty. Thomas Johnson, the verdict will be appealed.

Continue reading "Ex-Marine Awarded $17.5 Million after Botched Dental Surgery" »

Most of the dental malpractice claims that I come across as an Atlanta dental malpractice attorney involve lingual nerve injuries or alveolar nerve injuries caused during dental procedures. However, there's more than one way that a dentist can be reckless.

A woman in Somerset UK is suing her dentist for malpractice, after he extracted the wrong tooth. The story doesn't end there. The dentist, who had discarded the extracted tooth into a waste bin, then retrieved the tooth, and replanted it right back on to the patient.

According to the 44-year-old patient, her dentist erroneously extracted a perfectly healthy tooth instead of the rotting teeth. She realized it when she went home, and contacted the dentist. He called her back to his dental office for remedial measures, and proceeded to replant the extracted tooth. By this time, he had already discarded the healthy, extracted tooth into the waste bin. Her tooth was retrieved from a bin that had a lot of medical waste, including bloodied tissues, used needles and saliva wipes.

Continue reading "Woman Claims Dental Malpractice Compensation after Wrong Extraction" »

It would have been much more effective to get in touch with an Atlanta dental malpractice lawyer, but the parent of a five-year-old child had other ideas. The father, Chris Cook of Bakersfield, California created a Facebook page deriding his son’s dentist after a nightmarish treatment procedure, during which, he alleges, the dentist extracted a tooth without the proper use of anesthesia.

According to Cook's Facebook page, the episode occurred last month at the clinic of a prominent dentist in the area. Cook alleges that the dentist didn’t wait for the child to be properly sedated before extracting the tooth. The child had a traumatic experience. He allegedly had to be held down by assistants, and vomited and urinated during the procedure, screaming the entire time.

What the father did next was vent on Facebook. He immediately created a Facebook page called “I Hate Dr. Dove of Bakersfield,” which quickly accumulated more than 400 members. Many of the members are concerned parents, who have used the Facebook post to vent about their own experiences with the concerned dentist.

According to some of the Facebook posts, the dentist has often mistreated child patients. Some of them spoke of him slapping and strapping children down to restrain them, and others spoke of a dentist who couldn’t be bothered to wait until a child was properly sedated before beginning a procedure.

Continue reading "Parent Launches Facebook Attack against Dentist" »

A woman in Cook County, Illinois has filed a lawsuit against her dentist, claiming that he severely injured her lip during a procedure. That fact by itself would not have intrigued any Atlanta dental malpractice lawyer. However, according to the lawsuit, the dentist had been watching TV while he was performing the procedure.

According to the woman, the incident occurred on July 30, 2009, when she visited the dentist for a procedure. While the dentist was performing the procedure, he and a dental assistant watched a soap opera on a television set in the room. While he was distracted, the dental instrument burned a hole in her lip.

The hole quickly began to bleed. There was severe bruising, and the wound began to ooze liquid. When the effects of the dental anesthesia wore off, the plaintiff also began to suffer excruciating pain. When she informed the dentist about her pain, he simply prescribed an oral treatment to treat mouth sores.

Continue reading "Malpractice Lawsuit Claims Dentist Watched Soap Opera During Treatment" »

A dentist, who spent more than twenty-five years in prison after being convicted of the murder of three patients from improper use of anesthesia, has been paroled.

The case involving California dentist Tony Protopappas has interested Atlanta dental malpractice lawyers for a while now. Protopappas had a thriving dental practice in Costa Mesa. Everything was going great until 1980, when three patients including two women and a thirteen-year-old girl died after they had been administered anesthesia during dental treatment at his clinic.

In 1982, Protopappas was charged with three counts of second-degree murder. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He had been granted parole in 2008, but the parole was overturned by then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The governor based his decision on the fact that Protopappas had informed mental health evaluators that his staff, and not him, had been responsible for the deaths of the patients.

Last week, Protopappas officially exited prison. He has lost his dental license, and will never be able to start a practice again. But his lawyers says that he hopes to find a job working at a dental lab.

Continue reading "“Feel Good Dentist” Paroled from Prison" »

As an Atlanta dental malpractice lawyer, I constantly monitor new developments in the field of dentistry and dental pain management. Chronic dental pain because of nerve or joint disorders can be debilitating for many patients. Researchers at Boston University School of Dental Medicine have now found that stem cell therapy can help substantially reduce such dental pain.

The researchers used mesenchymal stem cells derived from the bone marrow in order to treat dental pain in lab rats. In order to stimulate pain in the rats, the Boston University researchers used two types of techniques. They tied up the masticatory muscle tendon to deliver musculoskeletal pain, and tied up the facial nerve in order to deliver neuropathic pain. The stem cells were either injected into the area, or were administered via IV just like anesthesia.

The researchers found that in the rats that received the stem cell therapy, the pain subsided and did not return. However, in a control group of rats that did not receive the stem cell therapy, the pain continued for twenty-two weeks. According to the researchers, they did not find any side effects from the use of the stem cells.

Continue reading "Researchers Successfully Use Stem Cells To Treat Dental Pain" »

Many dental procedures can be painful, and your dentist will use an anesthetic to numb the pain. Unfortunately, dental anesthetics may come with side effects that patients are not always aware of.

One the most common side effects of dental anesthesia is the development of hematomas. A dental anesthetic is administered by an injection, and if the needle pricks a blood vessel, then blood can begin to collect below the gum tissue. The result can be a painful swelling.

It's also not entirely unheard of for ingredients in your dental aesthetic to be absorbed into your bloodstream and travel through your body. These compounds can be toxic, and can affect the central nervous system. When this happens, there may be a number of alarming side effects. The person may feel excitable or irritable, and there may be acceleration of the heartbeat. A person may have excessive sweating and hot and cold flashes. More serious side effects of this toxicity can include blurred or double vision, confusion, disorientation, seizures or convulsions.

Continue reading "Side Effects of Dental Anesthesia " »

Atlanta dental malpractice attorneys know that persons with certain medical conditions are not eligible for dental procedures. A dental procedure likely contributed to the declining mental health of popular British TV actor Peter Falk, eventually leading to his death. Falk died in June at the age of eighty-three from Alzheimer's disease.

He had lived with the disease for years, but was mentally lucid enough to continue to work. His condition took a turn for the worse in 2007 after he underwent a series of dental procedures. According to family, within weeks, his condition worsened rapidly, and he slipped into dementia. He no longer recognized people or objects, and required full-time care. His family had to apply for legal guardianship because his condition had become so poor. Then in 2001, he underwent hip replacement surgery, contributing to a further decline in his condition.

His family struggled to understand the sudden onset of dementia symptoms, and did not make the connection between his dental procedure and the onset of dementia. However, the results of new studies published in the Journal Urology revealed that surgical procedures can exacerbate the onset of Alzheimer's disease, and exacerbate the disease in those who already have it.

Continue reading "Dental Procedures Can Exacerbate Certain Medical Conditions" »

The State Legislature of Pennsylvania approved legislation on Saturday that would require dentists to carry at least $1M in liability insurance. As an Atlanta lawyer who specializes in dental malpractice, I am eagerly following this bill, and I think it is long-overdue.

Most serious dental malpractice injuries result from negligent tooth extractions or dental implants which cause damage to the Inferior Alveolar Nerve or the Lingual Nerve. Many times, this damage is caused by crushing or severing the nerves and the injury causes a permanent disability.

Continue reading "Bill Would Make Dental Malpractice Insurance Mandatory" »

As an Atlanta Dental Malpractice Lawyer, I know that many so-called "routine procedures," such as wisdom tooth extractions, root canals, crowns, and dental implants, can result in horrifying injuries. This is because the mouth contains many vital anatomical structures, including the lingual nerve, the inferior alveolar nerve, the mylohyoid nerve, and the mandible jawbone.

Many instances of dental malpractice involve damage to the lingual nerve. The lingual nerve descends from nerve centers in the brain into the lower jawbone and finally into the tongue and adjacent gums. Partial or complete severance of the lingual nerve can occur during the surgical extraction of a tooth, during the injection of anesthesia, or as a result of inflammation. Overfilling of the space under a tooth, during a root canal for example, can also result in leakage into the mandible canal and lingual nerve injury.

Damage to the lingual nerve can result in numbness or decreased sensation in the tongue, the floor of the mouth, the inside of gums, and the lips. Clients who have experienced lingual nerve damage have experienced an inability to taste their food, to know when to swallow, to stop biting their own tongues, as well as drooling, slurred speech, and a changed appearance. Lingual nerve damage can also cause residual pain, which can decrease one's quality of life and ability to work. This type of neuropathic pain is often worse at night, resulting in sleep deprivation and adding to the emotional burden of the sensory nerve damage.

In an attempt to regain functionality in their lingual nerve, some patients have undergone complex surgeries in which a nerve from another part of the body is removed and reinserted in their jawbone. However, these surgeries are not always successful and present additional risks to the patient.

Dentists have a duty, not only to provide competent dental care, but also to inform their patients of the risks inherent in any procedures they wish to perform. If you feel that your dentist has breached his duty to you, protect yourself by hiring an experienced dental malpractice lawyer to help you pursue your claim and redress your injuries.

Continue reading "Common Dental Malpractice Injuries" »

As an Atlanta Dental Malpractice Lawyer, I encounter many clients who have had asymptomatic wisdom teeth extracted. Not only is this a form of dental malpractice (because it constitutes over-treatment) but many of these procedures result in permanent nerve injuries to the lingual nerve and/or the inferior alveolar nerve.

Simply put, a wisdom tooth that is not causing any problems, should not be removed. Even "impacted" wisdom teeth should not be removed, unless they are infected or causing another serious dental problem.

Unfortunately, over ten million wisdom teeth (also known as third molars) are extracted from almost 5 million people in the United States every year. This results in hundreds of permanent nerve injuries when the lingual nerve or the inferior alveolar nerve is damaged due to a needle severing the nerve during nerve blocks injections, a root tip ripping the nerve during extraction or a number of other complications related to the drug use to numb the patient or the extraction. I have seen cases in which both of these nerves have been damaged by one extraction.

Continue reading "Needless Tooth Extractions Lead to Lingual Nerve and Inferior Alveolar Nerve Damage" »

A group of 10 families in New York has filed a lawsuit against Small Smiles/Access Dentistry, a nationwide network of dental clinics that also has a presence in Georgia. The lawsuit alleges that dentists at Small Smiles in Schenectady performed unnecessary procedures on young children. The lawsuit also alleges that the children were physically restrained during these procedures. The company has been charged with fraud, dental malpractice, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and battery.

Some of the children mentioned in the lawsuit include

An eight-year-old girl who had six root canal surgeries and crowns, four dental extractions and three fillings during a single visit. During all these procedures, the girl was physically restrained in a chair.
A one-year-old boy who had four root canal surgeries and four dental extractions while being restrained in the chair.
A four-year-old girl who had a total of eight fillings, four dental extractions and two root canal surgeries during a single visit.

Continue reading "Dental Malpractice Suit Alleges That Small Smiles Performed Unnecessary Procedures on Children" »

The mouth is an important part of our ability to function as humans in society. We use it to eat, drink, and communicate with each other. We take the mouth largely for granted, until there is a problem. We then trust a dentist or an orthodontist to fix that problem. But sometimes dental professionals fail to perform adequately. In that case, the patient should look into their legal options.

Continue reading "Closure Leaves Dental Patients with Little Recourse" »

The Food And Drug Administration has found that the maker of the popular Invisalign invisible braces failed to inform the agency about allergic reactions to the product. Some of these allergic reactions were serious enough to be life-threatening.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, it first learned about these allergic reactions this year. The agency has sent the company that manufactures Invisalign, Align Technology, a warning letter, alleging that the company failed to inform the agency about how it was going to enhance its reporting procedures. Align Technology has issued a news release saying that it did, in fact report, these incidences of allergic reactions to the FDA.

The FDA letter describes certain serious symptoms that patients who used the braces suffered:
On November 2, 2007, one patient reported severe gum and lip irritability. The lips and gums became swollen, red, sore and irritable. There were several other such reports that were made to the FDA, and some of these cases were serious enough to require hospitalization of the patient.

As recently as May 11, 2010, there was another report of allergic reactions from using the braces. This patient suffered a burning tongue sensation. The patient also reported soreness in the throat, mouth ulcers as well as swollen lymph nodes.

Continue reading "Atlanta Dental Malpractice Lawyers Warn about Invisalign Allergy Risks " »

As an Atlanta dental malpractice lawyer, the risks from the widespread use of dental fillings containing mercury have been a particular subject of interest to me. This week, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it would be revisiting this safety issue. An FDA advisory panel has convened a professional review to analyze the risks from mercury amalgam dental fillings.

The announcement of this review comes just about 18 months after the FDA declared that the fillings were safe. Over the past couple of decades, the FDA has found that dental amalgam fillings containing mercury are safe to use.

Dental fillings containing mercury have been used for decades now. The American Dental Association has always held that the fillings are completely safe. However, the fact that these fillings contain mercury, a known toxin, has always been a source of concern especially to Atlanta dental malpractice attorneys.

The FDA in 2009 released new evidence that states that dental fillings containing mercury are safe for people aged six and above. However, the FDA also cautioned that very young children and developing fetuses may have health risks from the mercury in their fillings. However, there have always been critics of amalgam fillings who believe that the FDA has purposely chosen to misread evidence pointing to the risks of mercury-containing amalgam fillings.

Continue reading "FDA Revisiting Mercury Dental Fillings Safety Threats " »

As an Atlanta Dental Malpractice Attorney, I receive many calls from people injured in the dentist's chair. Some are injured during wisdom tooth extraction, others are injured from nerve block injections and still others suffer their nerve injury after receiving a new dental implant. Most ask some form of the same question: "Will my dental nerve injury get better." The answer, unfortunately is, "It depends."

The most common dental nerve injuries are to the lingual nerve (most likely symptom being a numb tongue), the mental nerve (most likely accompanied by a numb lip) and the inferior alveolar nerve (most commonly associated with numb lip and gums). Regardless of the nerve injured, the key to reversing the nerve damage is timely treatment. The longer one goes without the feeling in your lip, cheek, gum or tongue coming back, the more likely that the injury will be permanent. If the nerve damage is identified and treated in a timely manner, some cases of nerve damage can be repaired with microneurosurgery.

As an attorney who handles many Georgia dental malpractice cases, it concerns me greatly when clients suffer from permanent nerve damage. These are particularly tough injuries to live with and they affect your life every day in many ways that are not apparent until you suffer this type of injury.

Continue reading "Will My Dental Nerve Injury Get Better?" »

Radiation diagnostic procedures have always been sparingly used among children and adolescents because of the risk of overexposure to cancer-causing radiation. However, the same kinds of precautions are not taken when children are in a dentist's chair, getting an x-ray or a scan before a routine dental procedure. This is in spite of the fact that many dentists continue to use outdated x-ray film that expose patients to unnecessary excessive amounts of radiation.

That is not the only thing that should concern any Atlanta dental malpractice lawyer. According to the New York Times, more and more orthodontists and dental specialists around the country are now using a new scanning device that releases much more radiation than conventional diagnostic machines. The device is called a cone beam CT scanner, and is meant to provide 3-D images of the skull, including teeth, roots and jaw.

The technology has been heavily promoted by manufacturers, who say that it gives orthodontists and other dental specialist the chance to identify specific and precise problems, and devise treatment strategies more efficiently. What they don't mention in all their marketing jargon, is that there is little scientific research to prove that these machines are safe. There've been few tests that have been conducted on the scanners to determine their efficiency that have not been sponsored or promoted by the manufactures of the scanners.

Continue reading "Have Radiation Risks from Atlanta Dental Scans Been Underestimated?" »

Both lingual nerve injury and inferior alveolar injury can occur during surgical oral procedures. Both of these injuries can result in permanent or temporary loss of sensation in the mouth. In some cases, the lingual nerve may be injured, while in others, the inferior alveolar nerve may be injured. In some cases, both may be injured. While both conditions can be painful, inferior alveolar injuries tend to be more common than lingual nerve injuries. These injuries also tend to be tolerated better than lingual nowadays.
Tooth extraction is one of the main causes of lingual nerve injury and inferior alveolar injury. Typically, these injuries occur during extraction of the wisdom teeth. Both lingual nerve injury and inferior alveolar injury can also occur during injections of local anesthetic administered during the dental procedure. A lingual nerve injury may end in pain to the mucosa on the side of the teeth close to the tongue. The pain is usually a burning kind of pain, or a dull throbbing pain. There may also be some numbness.
If you have suffered a nerve injury during a dental procedure, you should immediately consult a dental surgeon. As an Atlanta dental malpractice attorney, I’ve noticed that it can take time for a patient to realize that he has indeed suffered a nerve injury after the anesthesia wears off. Once you have been able to determine that you have indeed suffered an injury, it's important to consult with a surgeon.

Continue reading "What to do If You Have Suffered Lingual Nerve Injury and Inferior Alveolar Injury" »

The vast majority of the Atlanta Dental Malpractice cases that we litigate involve damage to the Lingual Nerve or the Inferior Alveolar Nerve (or both). Recent studies have identified factors that contribute to the incident of nerve damage. Most are secondary to a dental procedure such as installing dental implants (when the nerve is crushed due to the implant being installed too deep) or oral surgery (when the nerve is ripped or severed during wisdom tooth extraction).

The factors identified as substantially increasing the risk of lingual nerve damage are: increased age of the patient undergoing the dental procedure; un-erupted wisdom tooth extraction; raising the lingual flap; and lingual split technique (splitting the bone to remove the tooth).

The factors identified as substantially increasing the risk of Inferior Alveolar Nerve damage are: the depth of impact; the difficulty of the surgery; and radiographic signs that the wisdom tooth root is lying in close proximity to the Inferior Alveolar Nerve or, similarly, that the nerve has grown into and created a groove into the wisdom tooth root.

When any of the above factors are present, there is much greater risk of injury and permanent dental nerve damage.

As an Atlanta dental malpractice lawyer who frequently meets with patients suffering from these injuries, I know how important it is to properly evaluate patients before oral surgeons extract teeth or install dental implants.

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Articaine is a local anesthetic that is used widely around the United States. Worldwide, more than 100 million dental patients are believed to be treated with Articaine every year. However, since the drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000 under the brand-name Septocaine, there has been concern about its links to lingual nerve damage.

There has been substantial research into the lingual nerve injury risks of using Septocaine. In 2005, the Danish Medicines Agency published a report, which studied the risks from the use of this nerve block in dental treatment. The study was done to deal with concerns that Septocaine was linked to a high number of cases of lingual nerve damage reported to the Danish Dental Association, and reports of side effects reported to the Danish Medicines Agency. Danish authorities were particularly concerned about the development of paraesthesia from the use of Septocaine. The study concluded that there needed to be more research into this issue. However, in an apparent acknowledgment of the link between Septocaine nerve blocks and lingual nerve damage, the Septocaine package insert was changed to reflect the high incidence of Septocaine nerve blocks resulting in lingual nerve damage.

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It’s one of the most unpleasant experiences for any Atlantan, but a visit to the dentist can actually seriously impact your life in ways you may not have anticipated. Lingual nerve injury and alveolar nerve injury can leave a person with permanent numbness, loss of sensation, or even pain. There’s very little known about these injuries, and it's only patients who suffer a severed lingual nerve or a alveolar nerve injury who understand the impact of these injuries.

These nerve injuries can result from a number of factors. Severance can occur in either the lingual nerve or the alveolar nerve.

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