Plaintiff was a 24 year-old single woman when she first visited the general dentist with complaints referable to her lower third molar teeth. She was told that she should have the teeth extracted and she told the dentist that she wanted a general anesthetic. He offered to refer her to an oral surgeon or, if she was willing to wait for the dentist to receive something from the state, she could return to him and he would be able to do the surgery under general anesthesia. He was, at the time, awaiting receipt of an anesthesia/parenteral sedation permit from the Florida Board of Dentistry.

More than six months later, he called the patient back into his office to schedule her surgery. The dentist’s wife was a CRNA (nurse anesthetist) and would do the anesthesia. The dentist used a high-speed air turbine handpiece to drill away bone and caused a massive subcutaneous emphysema to develop in the submandibular space which dissected its way down to the clavicles. The patient was sent home and the dentist and his wife made a house call the next day, but did not send the patient to a hospital emergency room. The following day, after seeing just how massive the emphysema was on the previous day, the dynamic duo returned to the patient’s house with five boxes of frozen green peas which they bought at a nearby convenience store; they placed the green peas on the patient’s upper chest and neck in a futile effort to reduce the swelling, mistakenly believing the emphysema to be an inflammatory process receptive to cold compresses.

A few days later, when the swelling had not subsided and the patient’s fears had increased, she visited a nearby hospital emergency room and was reassured that, although she was in danger during the first few days, the danger had passed and she would gradually improve.

Although the emphysema subsided, sensation to her right tongue never returned and she is left with a permanent paresthesia and disturbance of taste on the right side of her tongue which she attributed to the defendant dentist’s negligence. There were no medical specials and no permanent injury caused by the emphysema.

The case settled for $95,000.00 from dentist’s $100,000.00 policy limit and $1,250.00 from the nurse anesthetist. Plaintiff’s expert: Marlon Branitz, D.D.S., oral and maxillofacial surgery, Coral Springs, FL. Defendants’ expert: none disclosed. Suzanne Henoch v. Steven G. Mautner, D.D.S., and Barbara E. Mautner, CRNA.

Broward County (FL) Circuit Court Case Number: 95-12013 (03). Kenneth P. Liroff, DDS, JD, of of Fort Lauderdale, FL for the plaintiff. Steven Billing, Esq., of Billing, Cochran, Heath, Lyles & Mauro, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, FL for defendant dentist. Mark C. Burton, Esq., of Wicker, Smith, et al., Fort Lauderdale, FL for defendant nurse.

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Plaintiff was a 36 year old office worker who underwent the surgical removal of her asymptomatic erupted lower right wisdom tooth by the defendant general dentist, during the course of which surgery her lingual nerve was transected, leaving her with a permanent right lingual nerve numbness and right-sided taste disturbance.

At deposition, the defendant testified that he saw the lingual nerve during his retraction of a lingual mucoperiosteal flap which he had developed so that he could remove bone from the lingual surface of the tooth, and that “the nerve came up and hit the bur.” There was never a discussion of risks of the proposed surgery nor was there a signed consent form. The dentist’s records made no reference to the transection of the nerve by the bur and he never told this to the patient. For many months the patient called the defendant’s office and he avoided her.

Nearly a year after the extraction the plaintiff saw an oral surgeon who told her that her nerve injury was probably caused by the anesthetic injection. Plaintiff faulted the defendant for having performed unnecessary surgery, lack of informed consent, negligent surgery and failure to monitor and refer her timely to a microsurgeon for consultation about possible repair surgery.

The case settled for $140,000.00. Plaintiff’s Experts: John M. Gregg, D.D.S., Ph.D., oral and maxillofacial surgery and microsurgery, Blacksburg, VA.; Richard R. Souviron, D.D.S., general dentist, Coral Gables, FL; Marlon Branitz D.D.S., oral and maxillofacial surgery, Coral Springs, FL. Defendant’s Experts: Fred Alfele, D.D.S., oral and maxillofacial surgery, West Palm Beach, FL; Roger Froelich, D.D.S., oral and maxillofacial surgery, West Palm Beach, FL. Palm Beach County (FL) Circuit Court Case No. 95-4841 AH.

Kenneth P. Liroff, D.D.S., J.D., of the Dental Law Group, Ft. Lauderdale, FL represented the plaintiff. Edwin E. Mortell, III, Esq., Peterson, Bernard, et al., West Palm Beach, FL for the defendant.

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Plaintiff was a 60ish homemaker who was referred to the defendant endodontist because of continued sensitivity following crown placement on a lower premolar tooth. A conventional root canal procedure was performed and the patient continued to complain of sensitivity. Within six weeks following the root canal, the endodontist told the plaintiff that she had to “scrape [her] roots” and performed an apicoectomy. The endodontist usually used a written consent form which advised patients of the risk of nerve injury but inexplicably never gave that form to the patient. The patient�s inferior alveolar nerve was surgically traumatized near the mental foramen and the patient is left with a permanently painful, burning numbness of her lower lip and skin overlying her chin to the midline.

The case settled on the Saturday before a Monday trial. Broward County, Florida, Circuit Court Case No. 95-11593 (18). Kenneth P. Liroff, D.D.S., J.D., of The Dental Law Group, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, for the plaintiff; Mark C. Burton, Esq., Ft. Lauderdale, FL, for the defendant.

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Plaintiff was a 21 year old college student when he underwent the removal of one of his lower wisdom teeth for which an adequate consent form was reviewed and signed. There were no untoward effects from this simple extraction. One week later, the young man underwent the surgical removal of a difficult impacted lower wisdom tooth by a different dentist at the same clinic practice, for which there was no discussion about risks and no consent form was reviewed and signed.

Following this surgery, the patient developed paresthesia of the inferior alveolar nerve. The paresthesia was confirmed by subsequent examining oral surgeons during the six months following the surgery, but not thereafter. In his complaint, the plaintiff alleged an inadequate x-ray examination, lack of informed consent and negligent surgery. The defendant never obtained an independent medical examination which he was entitled to request.

Five years following the surgery, and as part of trial preparation, plaintiff�s counsel had plaintiff examined by their expert and learned that plaintiff had no clinically identifiable neurologic deficit.

The case settled during a mediation conference for $54,000.00. Seminole County (FL) Circuit Court, Case No. 94-2350-CA-09-E. Kenneth P. Liroff, D.D.S., J.D., of The Dental Law Group, Ft. Lauderdale, FL represented the plaintiff. Philip King, Esq., Orlando, FL, for the defendant.

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