settlement

Osteonecrosis of the Jaw As a Complication After Wisdom Teeth Removal

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Removing wisdom teeth or a wisdom tooth has risks and in some instances complications can occur. I have discussed numerous complications of wisdom teeth over at http://www.teethremoval.com/complications.html. One of the complications discussed is Bisphosphonate Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw (BRONJ). What happens is that when a patient is on bisphosphonates and has a tooth extracted (any tooth a wisdom tooth or not) bone that is exposed can fail to heal. A case of this occurring is described at the Daily Mail titled “Grandmother in agony for FOUR YEARS after dentist removed wisdom tooth without checking her medical records,” by Steve Robinson, published on March 19, 2013. In this case a 72 year old woman had a problem where she kept catching her teeth with her cheek and noticed blood. She went to her general practitioner who performed a biopsy and … Read more

Family Reaches $3 million settlement from faulty medical gas during wisdom teeth removal

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I have previously reported on Austin Stone, a teenager who was left with partial blindness and neurological problems after having his wisdom teeth removed. Today a partial settlement has been reached for $3 million with Action Plumbing; however, they denied being liable. Legal action is still pending against other defendants. Austin visited Dr.  Steven Kirk Vincent in Lawrence, Kansas, U.S., in March 2009, to have all four of his wisdom teeth removed.  Dr. Vincent had just had a new dental surgery center opened and Austin was the first patient to visit on a Monday morning. Dr. Vincent began administering to Austin what he believed to be nitrous oxide and oxygen. Austin did not become sedated and so Dr. Vincent administered diazepam, fentanyl, and later propofol. Austin’s heart rate began to decrease and Dr. Vincent administered what he believed to be … Read more

Western Dental injuries and pain

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I found some interesting pieces from ABC 7 KGO-TV San Francisco, CA. The articles and videos are about the second largest HMO in the state of California called Western Dental. Numerous people are profiled talking about things such as nerve damage following wisdom teeth removal, people’s healthy teeth being pulled out and being replaced with dentures,  a syringe injecting bleech into a girl’s sinus during a root canal, and putting too much filler into the root of a woman’s teeth during a root canal and causing severe pain. Of course Western Dental defends by not admitting wrongdoing but then lawsuits result and a settlement is reached in some cases. In other cases Western Dental has not paid for subsequent follow up treatment. To see the videos and read more of the articles visit these 2 links. http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/iteam&id=7583317 http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/iteam&id=7585208