South Florida Personal Injury Blog

A South Carolina woman has been awarded $2 million by a civil jury, Broward injury attorney Andrew Alitowski has learned. Elizabeth Smith, who is 28 years old, went to a dentist’s office to have three upper teeth pulled. However, while she was there, the dental clinic pulled all 16 of her upper teeth – 13 more than they had agreed to remove. It is not clear if Smith was sedated during the procedure and her reasons for having the three original teeth removed were unknown.

Smith hopes to have restorative surgery to fix her smile as soon as she can. The cost of the dental surgery may cost near $100,000. The teeth were mistakenly removed in 2006, so Smith has been living for three years awaiting damages so that she can pay for the surgery, says Fort Lauderdale accident lawyer Alitowski.

Suits against dentists are less common than lawsuits against physicians, but they do occur in cases like Smith’s. Tooth extraction is often used when a patient’s tooth or teeth are too extensively damaged to feasibly repair it with a filling, crown, or other orthodontic method. Many people have wisdom teeth extracted because they do not fit well in their mouths or because they press on other teeth, which may cause the more visible front teeth to become crooked.

In Smith’s case, there was no medical or orthodontic reason for her other 13 teeth to be extracted. Loss of teeth can cause difficulty eating and, of course, social discomfort and emotional pain. The embarrassment , cost of restorative surgery, physical pain, and litany of other problems associated with this kind of injury merit monetary damages.

Alitowski & Moore, P.A. handles a wide variety of personal injury lawsuits, including swimming pool accidents, which are unfortunately common in south Florida; slip and fall or trip and fall cases, especially at commercial establishments; animal injuries, such as vicious dog bites; motor vehicle accidents, including suits against drunk and negligent drivers; and many other injuries claims.