If you are like me, you do not look forward to going to the dentist’s office. Whether it is a just a routine cleaning or a root canal, it is rarely any fun. That said, I appreciate my dentist and the professional work he does to keep my teeth clean. But what if your dentist was not as professional as mine and was merely looking at your mouth as a gold mine? This happens, and some dentists cut corners by allowing undertrained staff to perform procedures they not certified to complete, while other dentists make mistakes due to overwork or addiction issues. What should you do if your dentist’s negligence injured you?
If you have sustained an injury as a result of a dentist, you are due compensation for your pain, trauma, loss of income, and injuries. Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you—contact us now at (800) 707-9577.
What is Dental Malpractice?
Dental malpractice is based on a negligence standard. As I have stated in other blog posts, negligence is established when a person has a duty to a person, such as a patient, and fails to protect that patient from a harm that he knew of or should have known of. In dentistry, it occurs when a dentist deviates from the community’s accepted standard of dental care, and a patient is injured as a result of the deviation.
Forms of Dental Malpractice Vary
In my practice, I have seen a wide variety of deviations from a reasonable standard of dental care. Most commonly, I see infections caused by non-sterile dental equipment, needless tooth extractions, failures to diagnose periodontal disease, wrongly administered anaesthesia, and general misdiagnosis of dental conditions that result in ongoing pain and suffering. Many dental problems stem from dentists who allow hygienists and other para-professionals to perform tasks that only a dentist should do.
Filing a Dental Malpractice Suit
Dental malpractice requires the help of an experienced personal injury attorney. To present a case that the dentist in question deviated from a standard of care that resulted in harm, a personal injury attorney will have to take depositions, hire expert witnesses, and subpoena records. These tend to be contingency fee cases, meaning that, as the client, you will not have to pay anything for your representation unless you win your case. Your attorney will have to show that the dentist in your case took a course of treatment that was not reasonable under the current treatment protocols in use in your community or that he or she failed to treat a dental condition that was another dentist would have been reasonably expected to notice and treat.
What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured Due to a Dental Procedure?
If you or a loved one was injured due to a dentist’s negligence, you should contact an experienced personal injury lawyer immediately to discuss whether you have a viable personal injury claim for your injuries, any time you have been out of work, the costs of your treatment and rehabilitation, your pain and suffering, and other damages. This is my area of expertise. Let me take care of organizing your bills, attaining statements from expert witnesses, and dealing with the dentist’s attorneys. These are just a few of the critical, complex tasks that a personal injury attorney will handle for you while you heal from your dental injuries.
Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury because of a dentist’s negligence. Contact us now at (800) 707-9577.