In the same way that you trust your doctor to take care of your general health, you trust your dentist to take care of your oral health. Although you don’t go to the same office, dentists have the same standards of care as other doctors, meaning they are just as responsible for malpractice. Dental malpractice occurs with a negligent dentist, and it can have serious effects that lead to loss of mouth function, chronic pain, and even death in rare cases.
According to Albert W. Chianese & Associates, “An experienced attorney can help you determine if you have a dental malpractice case that you should file. All dentists have legal obligations to properly treat you and keep your care to a particular standard. This is known as their “duty of care.” Dentists must provide treatment only that’s in your best interests.
In the event that a dentist deviates from this duty of care, it is not automatically an appropriate claim for dental malpractice. It is necessary to be able to prove that you suffered harmful side effects as a result of the negligence of the dentist. This can be a difficult thing to prove, especially to jurors in a court of law. The dentist will have an attorney paid by malpractice insurance, as well as experts that will ask you several questions to try and discredit the claims you are making.
When Does Dental Malpractice Occur?
Dental malpractice happens when a dentist directly causes damage to a patient as a result of being negligent or incompetent while providing dental treatment. It is similar to other kinds of negligence in that the specialist owes the patient his or her duty of care and he or she has breached from the standards that must be given. The patient has suffered damages directly due to the breach of duty and the negligence of the dentist.
All medical professionals are required to do their job while maintaining a certain level of care, and dentists are not at all exempt from this. Often, people seem to assume that dentists only may be sued if they have caused some injury to the patient in the middle of surgery. In fact, it’s possible for a dentist to be sued for medical malpractice should he or she not do something, such as not diagnosing a bad disease.
Examples of Dental Malpractice
Some specific examples of dental malpractice include:
- Failing to look into the medical history of the patient
- Pulling the incorrect teeth
- Pulling too many teeth and performing procedures that are not needed
- Damaging the nerves due to negligence
- Failing to detect gum disease, oral cancer or similar conditions, as well as not treating them
- Improperly completing bridges and crowns due to negligence
- Diagnosing gum disease, oral cancer or similar conditions with delay
- Not obtaining informed patient consent
- Having problems with anesthesia
If any of these events have occurred, it’s time to hire an attorney. In order to succeed after filing a dental malpractice suit, you must be able to prove that you have more than just temporary pain and that you were not given the proper treatment by your dentist failed to deliver enough care to stop the problem from occurring. The incident must have also occurred within the last two years due to the strict statute of limitations in dental malpractice law. In other words, if you think that you have a case to bring to an attorney, there’s no time to delay — get in touch with a lawyer today.
