While dental malpractice claims are relatively uncommon, one of the common triggers are injuries to the inferior alveolar nerve or lingual nerve. Nerve damage can result from tooth extractions, placement of dental implants, root canal treatments, local anesthesia injections, and other procedures. The damage can be permanent and life-altering, leaving patients with pain, numbness, loss of taste, drooling, and impaired speech. In some cases, when the suffering is severe and patients are able to prove negligence, juries have returned verdicts in the millions of dollars.
Seergy v. Ricker
One such verdict occurred last year when a New Jersey jury awarded $1.33 million to Kathleen Seergy and her husband, Michael, in a suit they brought against Dr. Frank H. Ricker, a periodontist, and his practice. Kathleen Seergy had a molar extracted by Dr. Ricker in 2015. A procedure that Seergy claimed should have taken about an hour lasted more than four hours, leaving root fragments exposed and causing damage to her inferior alveolar nerve. In addition, she later suffered a fractured jaw as a result of the bone loss that had occurred due to the drilling. Seergy alleged Dr. Ricker failed to meet the acceptable standard of care, and that this constituted medical malpractice.
The defense maintained that Dr. Ricker performed the procedure properly. The periodontist testified that he had expected the procedure to take a much shorter period of time because the teeth had no blood supply due to a prior root canal. However, it was discovered during the procedure that the teeth were dry and shattered, causing the process to take more than four times longer than expected.
Experts provide conflicting testimony
Medical negligence is generally defined as a failure to comply with the applicable standard of care when making a particular diagnosis or rendering treatment. In nearly all dental and medical malpractice cases, expert witnesses testify on behalf of the plaintiff and defendant about the care provided by the practitioner and whether it deviated from the accepted standard of care.
In the Seergy case, experts in periodontics testified on behalf of both sides, and they provided starkly different opinions. Seergy’s expert testified that Dr. Ricker deviated from the standard of care in performing the procedure. The expert explained that Dr. Ricker drilled beyond the length of the tooth, damaging the lingual wall of the patient’s jaw bone and the inferior alveolar nerve. The expert stated there was enough room to complete the extraction without injuring the nerve and that the procedure should have been completed in an hour.
The defense’s expert countered by offering an opinion that the procedure did not deviate from the standard of care in terms of the amount of time it took. The expert spoke about the fact that Seergy’s old root canal fractured and splintered and noted it is not an uncommon complication in this type of procedure. He also stated that leaving root fragments exposed, as Dr. Ricker did, was within the accepted standard of care.
Long-term effects
The procedure left Seergy with numbness, and several weeks later her jaw spontaneously fractured when she bit into a piece of bread. She was evaluated by an oral surgeon, who informed her of the bone loss, and she then consulted a dental neurologist specializing in nerve regeneration. In January 2016, Seergy underwent nerve-regeneration surgery, which was only partially successful. The pain, numbness, tingling, loss of sensation and drooling that she suffers are permanent, she said. She also testified that she has difficulty kissing her husband and grandchildren because of the pain caused by skin contact. She also avoids going to restaurants due to embarrassment due to the drooling and food displacement that her injury has caused. Michael Seergy testified that his wife’s condition has interfered with the couple enjoying their retirement. Both sought damages for past and future pain and suffering.
The verdict
In the end, the seven-person jury unanimously sided with the Seergys, finding that Dr. Ricker was negligent and that his negligence was a factual cause of injury. The jury awarded non-economic damages of $1.1 million to Kathleen Seergy and $233,000 to Michael Seergy.
