Dental Malpractice

Dental malpractice claims are much like medical malpractice claims.  They arise when your dentist has done something that fell below the appropriate standard of care.  A common claim involves your dentist’s failure to diagnose a serious disease like periodontal disease.  As a result of your dentist’s error, your treatment options are seriously limited or even non-existent.  You suffer severe consequences that could have been avoided if you had received correct diagnosis and treatment.

If you think you have a dental malpractice claim, one of the most important things you can do is contact a lawyer right away.  There are strict deadlines for bringing malpractice claims against professionals like dentists.  Your lawyer will also have to have an expert – usually another dentist – examine you and your records to confirm that your dentist committed malpractice.  Sometimes the cost of hiring an expert to review your case can make pursuing a case difficult.  Your damages must be significant enough to offset the cost of hiring an expert, which can sometimes cost thousands of dollars.  An attorney can assist you with evaluating your particular case to determine whether it is worth it for you to pursue it.

Examples of Dental Malpractice

There are many situations that could create a claim for dental malpractice.  Here are a few examples:

• Nerve injuries that affected a patient’s ability to taste
• Nerve injuries that caused permanent numbness in the tongue
• Complications arising from negligently completed crowns and bridges
• Dentists’ failures to take a patient’s relevant medical history into account before acting – for example, failing to provide antibiotics for people with heart or other conditions increasing the risk of infection
• Failure to detect oral cancer, periodontal disease, or other diseases
• Certain complications from anesthesia, even when releases are signed
• Unnecessary extraction of multiple teeth
• Extraction of wrong teeth

Contact an Attorney

If you have suffered some injury because of your dentist’s negligent action or failure to act, contact the experienced lawyers at Twin Cities Law Firm.  They can assist you with evaluating your claim and pursuing it.