Nightmare dental procedure.

[SO65]

What is the name of your state? Alabama. I went to an oral surgeon on 03-06-07
to have my wisdom teeth removed. When I went back in two week's for my
follow up I was having pain and swelling on my left side, he said it was because
I had just had my teeth pulled. I thought maybe he was right, but the pain got so
severe that my jaw would not open and I could not chew any food , and when I
did eat the pain was unbearable to the point I had to go to bed and use an ice
pack on my jaw and face for an hour or two untill I could stop it from hurting.
I went back numerous time's with this complaint untill I got him to cut it back
open to see if their was anything wrong. He said he could find nothing, so he
cleaned it out and sewed it back up. I still had severe pain and swelling for a
couple of week's after that and still complained to him about it.
when I went back to him on 05-01-07 he said their was nothing else he could do for
me and that i needed physical therapy on my jaw. So he made me an appointment
with a therapist. I did not make it to him, I was in so much pain that I went to
my medical md. on 05-04-07 and he took xray's and sent me to the UAB ER.
where an oral surgeon was on call and said I had a possible infection in my jaw
and that I needed a catscan done to confirm it, and not leave before I had it done
because if it was in my blood I could die. ct confirmed I had osteomyelitis, infection
of my jaw bone.now they are trying to get it under control because it has
killed off part of my upper and lower jaw bone, the longer it take's to stop it the more
bone it will kill off .When they get it under control I have to have surgery done on my jaw to remove the bone that has died. I asked my current oral surgeon if he would have released me and sent me for therapy, he said no he would have done test on me to find out what was wrong with me. SO DO I HAVE A CASE??What is the name of your state?

 

[lealea1005]

What is the name of your state? Alabama. I went to an oral surgeon on 03-06-07
to have my wisdom teeth removed. When I went back in two week's for my
follow up I was having pain and swelling on my left side, he said it was because
I had just had my teeth pulled. I thought maybe he was right, but the pain got so
severe that my jaw would not open and I could not chew any food , and when I
did eat the pain was unbearable to the point I had to go to bed and use an ice
pack on my jaw and face for an hour or two untill I could stop it from hurting.
I went back numerous time's with this complaint untill I got him to cut it back
open to see if their was anything wrong. He said he could find nothing, so he
cleaned it out and sewed it back up. I still had severe pain and swelling for a
couple of week's after that and still complained to him about it.
when I went back to him on 05-01-07 he said their was nothing else he could do for
me and that i needed physical therapy on my jaw. So he made me an appointment
with a therapist. I did not make it to him, I was in so much pain that I went to
my medical md. on 05-04-07 and he took xray's and sent me to the UAB ER.
where an oral surgeon was on call and said I had a possible infection in my jaw
and that I needed a catscan done to confirm it, and not leave before I had it done
because if it was in my blood I could die. ct confirmed I had osteomyelitis, infection
of my jaw bone.now they are trying to get it under control because it has
killed off part of my upper and lower jaw bone, the longer it take's to stop it the more
bone it will kill off .When they get it under control I have to have surgery done on my jaw to remove the bone that has died. I asked my current oral surgeon if he would have released me and sent me for therapy, he said no he would have done test on me to find out what was wrong with me. SO DO I HAVE A CASE??What is the name of your state?

Seek the advice of a med/mal attorney who will have some one go over your records from the dentist, oral surgeon, and MD. Good luck with your surgery.

 

[ellencee]

What is the name of your state? Alabama. I went to an oral surgeon on 03-06-07
to have my wisdom teeth removed. When I went back in two week's for my
follow up I was having pain and swelling on my left side, he said it was because
I had just had my teeth pulled. I thought maybe he was right, but the pain got so
severe that my jaw would not open and I could not chew any food , and when I
did eat the pain was unbearable to the point I had to go to bed and use an ice
pack on my jaw and face for an hour or two untill I could stop it from hurting.
I went back numerous time's with this complaint untill I got him to cut it back
open to see if their was anything wrong. He said he could find nothing, so he
cleaned it out and sewed it back up. I still had severe pain and swelling for a
couple of week's after that and still complained to him about it.
when I went back to him on 05-01-07 he said their was nothing else he could do for
me and that i needed physical therapy on my jaw. So he made me an appointment
with a therapist. I did not make it to him, I was in so much pain that I went to
my medical md. on 05-04-07 and he took xray's and sent me to the UAB ER.
where an oral surgeon was on call and said I had a possible infection in my jaw
and that I needed a catscan done to confirm it, and not leave before I had it done
because if it was in my blood I could die. ct confirmed I had osteomyelitis, infection
of my jaw bone.now they are trying to get it under control because it has
killed off part of my upper and lower jaw bone, the longer it take's to stop it the more
bone it will kill off .When they get it under control I have to have surgery done on my jaw to remove the bone that has died. I asked my current oral surgeon if he would have released me and sent me for therapy, he said no he would have done test on me to find out what was wrong with me. SO DO I HAVE A CASE??What is the name of your state?

Do you have a case? Only a medmal attorney who reviews your claim can answer than question.

Much depends on your presenting state of oral health and hygiene; if either or both were poor, there is probably no negligence. If you were given an antibiotic and took it as prescribed, that may lower the chance of negligence.

Two months is a long time for someone to have unresolved and/or undiagnosed jaw pain after a dental procedure, though.

You will have to prove that you would not have developed osteomyelitis after the procedure if it had not been for an act of negligence by the dentist. It's rarely easy to prove negligence and it's always costly. It also requires about 5 years of your time, efforts, and stress.

Run it by a medmal attorney in your area; you have nothing to lose.

Just for your reading pleasure, here's some info from the web:

Although post-operative infections after the removal of wisdom teeth are rare, any infection left without treatment can become severe. As stated above, one of the reasons people have their wisdom teeth removed is because they become infected. Therefore, some patients will already have an infection associated with their wisdom teeth at the time of surgery. Even after the removal of the wisdom teeth these patients may require further treatment to resolve their infection. Rarely, patients may develop a chronic low grade infection of the bone at the extraction site, even weeks after the tooth was removed. This chronic infection of the bone (osteomyelitis) may require further antibiotic and/or surgical debridement. http://www.austinoms.com/wisdom.htm

EC

 

[barry1817]

dental problems

What is the name of your state? Alabama. I went to an oral surgeon on 03-06-07
to have my wisdom teeth removed. When I went back in two week's for my
follow up I was having pain and swelling on my left side, he said it was because
I had just had my teeth pulled. I thought maybe he was right, but the pain got so
severe that my jaw would not open and I could not chew any food , and when I
did eat the pain was unbearable to the point I had to go to bed and use an ice
pack on my jaw and face for an hour or two untill I could stop it from hurting.
I went back numerous time's with this complaint untill I got him to cut it back
open to see if their was anything wrong. He said he could find nothing, so he
cleaned it out and sewed it back up. I still had severe pain and swelling for a
couple of week's after that and still complained to him about it.
when I went back to him on 05-01-07 he said their was nothing else he could do for
me and that i needed physical therapy on my jaw. So he made me an appointment
with a therapist. I did not make it to him, I was in so much pain that I went to
my medical md. on 05-04-07 and he took xray's and sent me to the UAB ER.
where an oral surgeon was on call and said I had a possible infection in my jaw
and that I needed a catscan done to confirm it, and not leave before I had it done
because if it was in my blood I could die. ct confirmed I had osteomyelitis, infection
of my jaw bone.now they are trying to get it under control because it has
killed off part of my upper and lower jaw bone, the longer it take's to stop it the more
bone it will kill off .When they get it under control I have to have surgery done on my jaw to remove the bone that has died. I asked my current oral surgeon if he would have released me and sent me for therapy, he said no he would have done test on me to find out what was wrong with me. SO DO I HAVE A CASE??What is the name of your state?

Proving that the dentist caused the infection is extremely difficult. I had a similar case, which the defendent won because the dentist failed to follow mandated minimum levels of infection control. You might want to check with the dental code for your state, and see if he followed those standards.

I fyou want to contact me directly I will be happy to provide you with the information as to how this case was pursued, and how it resolved. Put dental into subject heading

[email protected]

 

[tunisia_x]

RE: dentist caused the infection

Yes my friend it's really very hard to prove that the dentist caused the infection. Because in maximum cases A tooth infection is usually caused by a dead tooth. Everything inside the dead tooth breaks down and liquefies and there is nothing to fight bacterial growth. This mixture of living bacteria and rotten tissue, leaks out of the end of the tooth.