Articles Posted in Dental Malpractice

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 paresthesia 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 one in Atlanta, but a visit to the dentist can actually seriously impact your life in ways you may not have anticipated. Lingual nerve injury and inferior alveolar nerve injury can leave a dental patient 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 an inferior 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 inferior alveolar nerve.
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A 28 year-old woman visited a dental clinic to have 3 upper molars removed. Due to a mistake by the dentist and clinic, the dentist negligently removed all of the woman’s upper teeth. Article.

Because of this clear case of dental malpractice, the victim has lost all of her upper teeth (of which 13 were apparently in good condition), endured tremendous amounts of pain; will be forced to undergo future corrective surgeries, and suffered from potential future medical complications such as her sinus cavity sagging due to the missing teeth and her facial bones moving because of the decreased bony structure.

Recently, a jury awarded the victim $2 million in damages. The money will be used to compensate this victim of dental malpractice for her pain and suffering and loss of her body parts; and to help finance the future dental procedures, gum surgeries, and other corrective procedures that the plaintiff must undergo in order to replace all of her upper teeth.

All dental malpractice cases in Georgia must be filed with an affidavit completed by an expert who opines about the facts of the case and testifies to at least one act of dental malpractice which caused or substantially contributed to the injuries that the plaintiff is complaining of in the lawsuit. In the present case, either a general dentist, oral surgeon, or other type of dentist can be the affiant, so long as the expert performs the same procedures as the one at issue in the case and which forms the basis for the dental malpractice claim. Since the injuries in this case were caused by negligent tooth extractions (a procedure that most dentists perform) the expert could be a general dentist, oral surgeon, or periodontist. The magic language in these situations is that there is substantial overlap as to what procedures these types of dentists perform. In addition, dentistry, unlike the medical profession, does not have sub-specialties.
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