[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by doccrocker

This is a terrible tragedy, and it is not something that should have occurred. I would like to examine and evaluate the office and its procedures personally, but that cannot happen, so obviously the court system will have to bring information to light that the news article did/could not. Allegations are a legal mechanism- a shot across the bow as it were. Not a wise idea to judge from a news report.

Originally Posted by doccrocker

By way of explanation for some of the concerns raised by this post:

Children can and do develop severe caries at very young ages, especially if they develop (as was mentioned earlier) bottle mouth syndrome. I have had to treat as young as 2 year olds for decay. It is especially prevalent where there is no fluoride in the drinking water. Acids in the milk or juice simply stay in place overnight eroding the teeth. Often, even when a parent is actually looking at the child's teeth the decay hollows out the inside without being visible until one day the shell of enamel just cracks like an egg. Children's "root canals" are usually called pulpotomies or pulpectomies because not all of the nerve is removed. Just the part in the crown of the tooth. This is in fact an in-office procedure and is very routine. We really want to keep the "baby" teeth until the permanent teeth come in because they hold space for the permanent teeth. Early removal of baby teeth winds up causing huge function problems due to crowding and frequently necessitating extensive corrections with extractions, braces (orthodontics) and sometimes even the need for surgeries to reposition the jaws.

Unfortunately, children (of all ages) do bring behavior problems to the office, so it is also commonplace for pediatric dentists to sedate them, sometimes with IV anesthetics, and sometimes with nitrous-oxide (laughing gas). Remember, no one really wants to go to the dentist, especially 3y/o who can't see the future, only the scary present. Better to get as much done as possible under the anesthesia. Would you really want to have open heart surgery for four clogged arteries and do two arteries today and next week go back under for the other two?

State laws vary, but nitrous can usually be used with a second person who monitors the patient while the work is being performed. True anesthesia (not just sedation) where the patient is unconscious definitely needs an anesthetist/anesthesiologist monitoring vitals. There are offices which are equipped with true surgical suites as one would find in a hospital but this is not commonplace. From the limited news report, I doubt that there was an allergic response to the anesthetic. I would be more inclined to think insufficient oxygen to the brain.

Sadly, people have a tendency to go with "If it doesn't hurt, there is not a problem and therefore, I can spend the money on a new TV/car/vacation/whatever , instead." While I agree that there are healthcare providers who are aggressive with treatment recommendations, ethical practitioners will offer a range of professionally acceptable choices, ranging from strictly maintenance wherein the minimum is done, to midrange which will help improve the overall condition, to high end which is intended to make the end result as ideal as possible. It is important for a dentist to explain all of the whats, whys, and hows , so the patient understands. However, there are people who only hear sounds but never listen to what's being said or simply choose to refuse to understand.

Thanks to poster(s)#8 mr & mrs bike for their insight on cause and effect and to 2BNTV for a phrase that should be equal to the golden rule , "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care".

Sorry if I rambled, but dentistry is extremely complex. I have no desire to condemn either side in this tragedy. Perhaps the parents allowed the situation to develop and perhaps not. Perhaps the dental office procedures were just not there. I don't know. But I would bet that the dentist is grieving as much as the parents, and not because of the lawsuit. Somebody died on her watch, and that will haunt her for the rest of her life.

I unintentionally walked on this fine post, so I am bumping it.