Typically people do not think of dental procedures and oral surgery as being as serious as other medical treatments. But the danger of being injured during dental work due to the negligence of a medical professional is real and should be taken seriously.
Many types of injuries can occur as the result of negligent acts by dentists. These injuries can have significant impacts on your physical health and well-being.
If you are the victim of dental malpractice, our caring Nevada personal injury lawyers may be able to get you compensation for:
- Dental and medical expenses,
- Corrective procedures,
- Pain and suffering, and
- Punitive damages (in egregious cases).
If you or someone in your family has been injured as the result of medical malpractice, we invite you to call us to explore your options.
Serious injuries to oral health can result from dental negligence.
What are common types of dental malpractice cases?
Dentistry malpractice can occur under a variety of circumstances. Some common forms of substandard dental care include:
- Lack of informed consent to a medical procedure.
- Failure to refer to a specialist, such as an oral surgeon or orthodontist.
- Failure to properly treat complications of care (for example, infection, paresthesia, etc.).
- Failure to properly perform prosthodontic work (for example, crowns and bridgework).
- Failure to diagnose various dental conditions (for example, oral cancers, periodontal disease, tumors, infection, or other oral disease).
- Failure to properly treat periodontal disease.
- Failure to render appropriate endodontic care.
- Failure to appropriately place, treat, or follow up with dental implants.
- Improper tooth extraction or root canal (which can cause nerve injuries, including permanent nerve damage).
- Failure to appropriately extract teeth (such as pulling the wrong tooth or using the wrong material for fillings).
- Failure to appropriately treat with orthodontics.
- Failure to diagnose or treat temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders.
- Failure to properly oversee employees or agents (actual or apparent).
- Improper anesthesia and anesthesia accidents on dental patients.
We can also help you if were injured in an accident such as a slip-and-fall in a dentist’s office.
Is there a time limit for filing a dental malpractice claim?
Nevada law typically requires victims of medical malpractice to bring their claims within three years of when the injury occurred.
However, injuries stemming from medical malpractice may not always be immediately apparent at the time they occur. In those situations, Nevada law requires the suit to be brought within one year of the victim discovering the injury or within one year of when the victim should have discovered the injury through the use of reasonable diligence.
Learn more about statutes of limitations in Nevada.
What is the process for filing a medical malpractice suit?
Nevada law provides very specific procedures for filing a medical malpractice claim. Unless these procedures are followed closely and all requirements are met, the medical malpractice case will not succeed.
One of the biggest considerations when filing a malpractice claim is whether the victim has been injured by the medical professional’s alleged breach of the standard of care. Because people who require the services of a medical professional are often severely ill or undergoing procedures that are inherently dangerous, it can be difficult to determine whether the victim’s injury or death was the direct result of the health care provider’s negligence.
To establish this direct causation, in most cases Nevada law requires the person filing a medical malpractice claim to submit the affidavit of a medical expert in the same, or similar field, as the doctor being sued. The affidavit must state that in the opinion of the medical expert, the injury was caused by the negligence of the health care professional being sued and was not the natural result of the victim’s illness.
If the case proceeds to trial, further testimony from medical experts will be necessary to establish that the injury was caused by the doctor or medical staff’s negligence.
Our Las Vegas dental malpractice lawyers can help you find the experts you need to satisfy the requirements of Nevada law for dental malpractice lawsuits.
Injured by dental malpractice in Nevada? Call us for help…
If you or a loved one was injured due to malpractice by a general dentist, oral surgeon, periodontist, hygienist, or other dental professional in a Las Vegas dental office, our dental malpractice attorneys invite you to contact our law firm.