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Looking for options involving dental malpractice in Texas

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TLark

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

I am looking for advice on how to proceed in a Texas small claims court with a claim against a dentist based on mistakes in my dental care. Would this be considered a “malpractice” claim? And if so, can that still be heard in small claims (i.e. JP court)? I would love to hear from anyone who has done this before. The value of my claim is about $3000.00 which is well within the limit for this court. One of the advantages of JP court is that I’m not required to retain a lawyer. And that’s a good thing because the legal fees would exceed my claim amount.

Based on my research it appears that malpractice claims require an expert witness. But those were major medical claims – not small claims. My dental claim is not overly technical… essentially he broke a tooth and the repair failed. I had this hack job corrected by a second dentist, and requested dentist#1 to pay for it which he did not. Do I need an “expert witness” for this in JP court? If that is required it is difficult to see how anyone could utilize JP court for minor dental malpractice.

One expert witness quoted me a fee of $500 per hour, and further stated he normally works only with attorneys and that I should retain one. Of course he didn’t know the full story but it feels like a run-around. How in the heck can someone have a small dental claim adjudicated in court?
 


ecmst12

Senior Member
Small claims is not the proper venue for a malpractice suit, and your circumstances would not make it worthwhile to pursue in regular court. You can try a complaint with the dental board, which I believe has an arbitration process for such things.
 

TLark

Junior Member
I looked into the arbitration process. The Dallas County Dental Society does provide a peer review process. Unfortunately, their peer review guidelines don’t provide any incentive in my case. For example, a dentist could charge you $50 for treatment, and cause $2000 worth of damage, but only be accountable for the $50 he charged you under their guidelines. That’s just silly. So it would appear that I have no other choice available to me except Small Claims.
 

mmmagique

Member
You need to contact a malpractice attorney. He will let you know if you have a case, and work for "free" until the case is settled. You will pay him a portion of what he gets for you, and he will include his costs and the professional witness cost in what he asks from the court. This is really your best bet.
 

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