Dental Medical Malpractice

Victims of Dental Medical Malpractice Should Call Our Lawyers for Help

You’ve undoubtedly heard of several medical malpractice lawsuits (also known as medical negligence claims) filed against hospitals, nurses, and physicians. Medical malpractice, however, is just one kind of professional misconduct. Any professional who does not follow industry standards is committing malpractice. A negligent dentist or orthodontist, for example, may inflict significant harm to their patient, perhaps worsening the person’s condition.

These incidents often result in severe fines imposed by professional organizations and dental malpractice lawsuits.

Dentists aren’t the only people who may commit dental malpractices. While your dentist will do the majority of your dental work, orthodontists, hygienists, dental nurses, and dental therapists, as well as anybody else offering dental treatment or advice, may harm you or make imprudent mistakes. If you’re unsure what constitutes dental malpractice, we’ve included some scenarios below.

Failure to Diagnose

A dentist should look for and detect any issues with a patient’s teeth, even if it is only for a routine check. If your dentist ignores signs of a dental illness, they have almost certainly ignored a problem that requires treatment. If most other dentists had seen the issue, your dentist would have breached the standard of care, which is malpractice.

Failure to diagnose is critical because it stops you from obtaining treatment — or even realizing that therapy is required. The oral condition is very sure to worsen before your subsequent evaluation, maybe leading to health concerns or the necessity for more sophisticated (and costly) operations.

Failure To Seek Consent

Failure to grant permission is another sort of dental malpractice that occurs often. Your dentist has several responsibilities before beginning any form of dental therapy. They should disclose why the treatment is recommended. Also, if there are any possible dangers, they should state what they are. Your dentist must be sure that you know your procedure’s nature, objective, and potential implications and that you grant your written agreement freely.

Sadly, some dentists neglect to provide this level of care, feeling that their clients should believe them since they are specialists. It is a mark of dental malpractice if your dentist hasn’t informed you of all of your treatment choices or hasn’t provided consent for even one component of your dental care.

Using Non-sterile Dental Instruments

A key and essential element of the standard of care is the sterilization of dental equipment. A dentist must carefully disinfect their gear after each usage since they use it on different clients. Patients may get illnesses or infections or develop severe diseases if a dentist fails to do so. Those effects would not occur if the dentist adequately sterilized the equipment.

Endodontic Complications

Most injured patients during orthodontic therapy often suffer such injuries because they lost their teeth due to the orthodontist’s failure to take routine X-rays or radiographs. Clients suffer because they had orthodontic treatment that resulted in TMJ (or temporomandibular joint) syndrome in certain situations.

Root Canal Therapy That Isn’t Done Properly

Root canal therapy is a popular procedure to treat dental decay, a leaking filling, or perhaps infections caused by damaged teeth.

The surgery usually goes ahead without a hitch in the great majority of instances. Dental malpractice, however, can result in issues such as cracked teeth, orthodontic instrument residues, and the failure to remove all infectious bacteria before fixing the crown. It could amount to dental malpractice if your dentist offered substandard treatment that resulted in any of these issues.

Treating the Wrong Tooth

Although some of your dentures may appear quite similar, a dentist must know all the crucial distinctions that identify teeth. Whether you require a filling, a crown restoration, a root canal treatment, or an extraction, they must use their expertise to guarantee they treat the proper tooth. If your dentist treated the wrong teeth or failed to accomplish the task that a patient anticipated of them, it is a perfect example of malpractice.

Adverse Effects of Drugs

Drug reactions may occur, but this does not always mean that the doctor was negligent. When adverse medication responses are linked to dental malpractice, the negligence may have occurred because the dentist should have recognized that the prescription was wrong for that patient from the client’s medical history.

The Misdiagnosis of Oral Cancer

A study by the NHS reveals that the sixth most prevalent cancer worldwide is oral (or mouth cancer). For example, it may cause various symptoms such as sores in the mouth, tumors in the neck, loose teeth, and white or patches in the neck and mouth. The illness must be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible to minimize future consequences. If you went to your dentist with these concerns and didn’t diagnose you or put you on hold for treatment, it can count as dental malpractice.

Crown Or Bridge Incorrectly Fitted

Crowns are used to make teeth stronger and protect them, especially those damaged. Tooth-shaped devices known as bridges bridge gaps left by lost teeth. When things aren’t fitted correctly, they might be uncomfortable or short-lived. If your dental crown or bridge was installed wrongly, it could also mean that malpractice happened.

Infections

There are instances when illnesses occur that are beyond everyone’s control. As long as a dentist takes necessary preventative measures and follow-ups, there is no need for fear. If a problem arises, the dentist must take action swiftly to prevent it from worsening.

Surgical Blunders

The dangers of oral surgery should be made apparent to you in advance so that a patient can make an informed decision about whether or not to proceed with the procedure. It could amount to medical malpractice if they did not advise you about the danger of surgery-related injuries.

Errors In Anesthesia

Anesthesia is often used in dental operations. Anesthesia, by its nature, is a potentially harmful treatment for those who undergo it. To ensure the safety of their clients, it should only be used by medical professionals who have undergone extensive training and follow strict safety procedures.

Treatments That Aren’t Necessary

This misconduct is akin to a dentist accidentally treating the false tooth. In the end, constructing crowns for healthy teeth instead of broken ones is unneeded. But dentists who prescribe unnecessary procedures for any client’s teeth might be subject to dental malpractice.

The doctor, for example, might inform the patient that they require a filling even though no cavities are present in the teeth. Because most practitioners wouldn’t have recommended the same therapy or any remedy, this approach breaches the standard of care.

Causing Severe Serious Injuries During Treatment

Many dental malpractice cases are caused by dentists who inadvertently injure their patients. These mishaps can cause significant nerve damage, needless lacerations, or severe harm to the teeth or jaw bone. If it is clear that other equally competent dentists would not have inflicted the same harm during the operation, it is then a case of malpractice.

If You Were Harmed by Dental Medical Malpractice, Call Our Lawyers for Help

Dental malpractice is just as dangerous as medical negligence, and patients may suffer from minor inconveniences to severe bodily and mental traumas resulting from dental errors.

Please consult with a dentist who knows what they’re doing and can help you figure out what’s wrong. Even a slight mistake on their part might leave you with a lifetime of tooth issues. The vast majority of dentists provide dental care and treatment of the most excellent quality; nonetheless, a few of them may become careless and fail to meet their clients’ expectations. If you believe you are a victim of Dental Malpractice, please contact one of our medical practice attorneys with a proven track record here at Medical Malpractice Universe.