Today Painter Law Firm filed a lawsuit against a Houston oral surgeon who caused a permanent lingual nerve injury when pulling our client’s lower wisdom tooth. The case is pending in a Harris County, Texas district court. Let’s call our client Lydia. Let’s call the oral surgeon Dr. Rush.
Have you ever experienced general anesthesia? Remember the uncomfortable numb feeling in the tongue and inability to taste? That’s what Lydia will experience for the rest of her life because of the injury that Dr. Rush caused.
Lydia’s general dentist recommend she see Dr. Rush about her wisdom teeth. Part of Dr. Rush’s assessment of Lydia included a panoramic x-ray (Panorex) of her entire mouth. A Panorex produces images of all the structures of the mouth, including teeth, jaw bones, and sinuses.
Lydia’s Panorex showed Dr. Rush that her wisdom tooth (#32) had deep roots that crossed the inferior alveolar canal. Dr. Rush didn’t tell Lydia that those deep roots meant that she had a higher risk of nerve injury if they proceeded to extract from her wisdom tooth.
Dr. Rush didn’t discuss with Lydia any alternative treatment options. One would be to leave the tooth intact. After all, it wasn’t causing pain and wasn’t decayed. Another option would be to perform a coronotomy, which involves surgically removing the top part of the tooth, but leaving the roots intact.
As part of our careful review of this case, we hired an oral surgery expert to review the dental records and imaging. The expert explained that because of Lydia’s long wisdom tooth roots, the standard of care required Dr. Rush to recommend and perform a coronotomy rather than a complete extraction of the lower wisdom tooth. If Dr. Rush had done that, Lydia’s nerve wouldn’t have been injured and she would have been spared the serious injuries that she’ll have for the rest of her life.
As result of his mistaken treatment decision to remove the entire tooth, and his use of excessive force in doing so, Dr. Rush damaged and severed Lydia’s lingual nerve, which left her with permanent dental anesthesia sensation, pain, numbness, loss of taste, and loss of sensation in her tongue.
If you’ve been seriously injured because of poor dental or oral surgery care in Texas, then contact a top-rated, experienced Texas medical/dental malpractice attorney for a free strategy session about your potential case.
