If you’re familiar with the idea of dental malpractice, the first thing that comes to mind might be botched oral surgeries, failed dental implant procedures, or poorly applied anesthesia or orthodontics. However, dental malpractice isn’t limited to what a dentist does poorly; it also includes necessary duties that a dentist does not perform such as administering antibiotics.
Giving a patient antibiotics is of supreme importance because failure to prescribe the right antibiotics after a dental procedure can lead to serious infections. In one case, a patient went to the dentist after getting a graft for one of their heart’s arteries. The dentist failed to administer antibiotics before routine cleaning. This resulted in the patient developing an infection at the graft site, which led to the patient’s death a few months later. There is also a danger of dentists over-prescribing antibiotics to patients or prescribing the wrong antibiotics for a patient’s needs. If a patient is harmed by wrongful antibiotic prescriptions, that could also be a form of dental malpractice.
Whenever dental malpractice happens, a dentist fails to meet the standard of care and to do what a knowledgeable, well-trained dental professional is expected to do. Patients have a right to be compensated for the damages they have suffered at the hands of a negligent dentist. If you live in California and you have suffered from antibiotic negligence, misdiagnosed oral cancer, or dental implant nerve injuries, you need an experienced dental malpractice attorney in California to help you win your case. Contact Attorney Dane Levy at the Levy Law Firm today for his award-winning legal services.