Do I have a case if I feel that my dentist did a malpractice?

I went to a general dentist earlier this year with bad jaw pain on one side of my face, thinking it would probably make sense to see a dentist first as the jaws were very close to the mouth area. Dentist advised that “jaw pains are usually related to infection of large molar teeth”, although none of my teeth were hurting at that time. He took an X-ray of my back molar on the same side of the aching jaw, but did not see any clear signs of decay/cavity. He then tapped the tooth around with dental instrument. I felt sensitive when he touched one spot and was told that was the trouble spot and the spot was on the side of the tooth along the gum line. The dentist said a crown over that tooth would take care of that trouble spot and thus solve the jaw problem. I was desperate to get the jaw pain taken care of, so agreed with the treatment plan. The dentist then prepped the tooth and sent the molding to lab to get the crown made. I felt extreme pain after the anesthesia wore off, even with taking antibiotics. I called the office and was told that a root canal was now necessary. I went to an endodontist right after for the root canal, which was completed in two visits. Almost two months later, the tooth still felt sensitive to touch so I had to go back for a root canal re-treatment. During the re-treat, I felt very sharp pain at one point, both in the tooth and along my lower jaw bone. Also my lower lip and chin felt like going though electric shocks. The tooth has felt much worse after the re-treat even with the high dose antibiotics. My lower lip and chin have been having numbness/burning sensation. My jaws hurt as well. I had to see the endodontist again and was told he could not see anything wrong and the tooth needed to be pulled as there was nothing that could be done endodontically to save it. I then went to an oral surgeon for a consultation appointment about extraction. During the examination, I was told that the initial jaw pain was not related to the tooth. In seeking 2nd opinion with another endodontist, I was advised the same thing—initial jaw pain was not related to the tooth. Additionally, I was told that the root canal had certain overfilling (fillings were pushed through the root tip and went outside the root tip, a perforation), which could irritate the nerves. The first endodontist who performed the root canal never discussed this with me. I felt that I am losing a healthy tooth after all this work and pain, all for nothing. The jaw pain is still there. The burning sensation on my lower lip and chin is not going away. After the extraction, I am facing yet another painful and expensive procedure—tooth implant. I would like to get your legal information as to whether or not I might have a case.
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Answered By: Andrew T. Velonis, P.C.
In order to prove a dental malpractice case, a claimant must prove a failure to conform to accepted practice, resulting in an injury. A bad result is not enough, and if it is a "judgment call" by the dentist, there is no malpractice, even if the dentist made the wrong call. So, you would have to engage another dentist as an expert witness, to review your records and determine if the dentist who treated you should have known of the true problem with the information he had available to him at that time. Similarly, with the overfilling, your expert would have to be able to say that this was an error that would have been avoided had the proper procedures been followed, as opposed to a subopitmal result from a legtitimate technique.

Answer Applies to: New York
Replied: 10/10/2011

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