What Is Dental Malpractice?

Dental malpractice is a type of medical malpractice. It includes any incident where a dentist, dental hygienist, or any dental professional provides substandard care that results in a severe injury.

If you believe you were the victim of a negligent dentist, a Tacoma dental malpractice lawyer in your area can evaluate your case and figure out how to get the compensation you deserve.

What Are Some Examples of Dental Malpractice?

Dental malpractice claims can take many forms. The common types of medical malpractice listed below are intended to help you better understand the concept, not to provide a comprehensive overview. Your personal injury lawyer can provide more detailed information that is specific to your situation.

Withholding Dental Care

When you go to the dentist with a problem, it is their job to take your concerns seriously. As a medical professional, they should examine the area in question, order any necessary tests, and prescribe dental treatments as appropriate.

If your dentist does not take you seriously or refuses to consider all possibilities, and if your condition worsens as a result, that could form the basis of a dental negligence case.

Misdiagnosing Your Dental Condition

While diagnostics is not an exact science, your dentist has an obligation to do the best they can to come to an accurate diagnosis of your condition. This standard of care means collecting all of the data they can and analyzing that data very closely before making a decision.

A misdiagnosis may have grave consequences. Misidentifying your condition could lead your dentist to prescribe treatments that do more harm than good. It also gives your true, untreated condition time to get worse and cause further pain.

Dental Procedures Gone Wrong

This is the type of medical malpractice that tends to make the news: a surgeon operates on or removes the wrong teeth, or they push for an unnecessary treatment so they can charge the patient more money. A botched procedure could also simply mean that the surgeon cut a little too deep or in the wrong direction.

As with any other potential malpractice case, a surgery gone wrong is only indicative of malpractice if your provider exhibited a lack of proper care or judgment.

What Can You Get After Suffering Dental Malpractice?

You can recover two main types of awards after a professional malpractice incident. These are:

Financial Compensation for Malpractice-Related Injuries

Even if you will make a full recovery from your malpractice dental injuries, the incident has still caused you untold, unnecessary suffering. You might experience nerve injuries, tooth damage or loss, physical pain, and even emotional distress. You might have to undergo additional, expensive treatments to undo the damage caused by the malpractice.

Whatever effect the dental malpractice has had on your life, you deserve compensation. A malpractice law firm can calculate what you are entitled to receive for:

• Pain and suffering
• Reduced quality of life
• Disability
• Scarring
• Medical costs
• Miscellaneous expenses
• Loss of wages
• Loss of earning capacity

Justice for Your Dental Malpractice Incident

No one should have to go through the pain of a malpractice injury. Filing a lawsuit against the negligent provider can be a good way for you to:

• Stand up for your rights as a patient
• Make sure the at-fault party is held accountable and that justice is served in your medical malpractice claim
• Achieve the satisfaction and peace of mind that comes with knowing you did the right thing to protect yourself and others in your community

The Consequences of Dental Malpractice

Malpractice can have a very negative effect on your life or even end your life as you know it. For you, the consequences of dental malpractice may be detrimental enough to entitle you to the types of damages listed above. For your dentist, the consequences depend on:

• Whether you file suit against them for the harm they have done
• Whether you report your dentist to your state’s health board and whether the board acts on your report
• Whether you can find enough evidence to prove your case against your dentist
• How much compensation you are able to persuade the dentist’s insurance company to pay you

Filing a Dental Malpractice Lawsuit

If you have been wronged by your dentist, your state gives you the right to sue them, but the details of and restrictions on that right vary based on location.

For example, in the state of Washington, your right to file a malpractice case is found in RCW § 4.16.350. However, this right expires after a certain number of years. You can protect your right to take legal action by getting started promptly.

How Dental Malpractice Cases Work

Before you start a case, it is a good idea to speak with a dental malpractice law firm. They can tell you what to expect and guide you through all of the steps of your case, which may go as follows:

• Investigation: Your attorney can look into all aspects of your case, including who is liable and what damage they did. They can collect evidence, such as medical records, witness statements, and expert testimonies, to validate your claim.
• Communication: The liable party or their insurer might try to trick you into saying or doing something against your interests. Your legal team can get in touch with them about your case and stay in touch throughout, protecting your rights.
• Negotiation: If your dentist’s insurer shows a willingness to cooperate with your case, your dental malpractice attorney’s first step might be to arrange a meeting with them to negotiate a pretrial settlement. Your legal team can represent you at this and all other meetings.
• Litigation: In cases where successful negotiations are not possible, you and your malpractice attorney might consider going to court. If that happens, your representative would attend the trial on your behalf, fight hard to swing the jury in your favor, and report back to you about what is happening.

Do You Have a Dental Malpractice Case?

Over the past ten years, Jackman Law Firm has won over $25 million for our clients. If you were the victim of a dental malpractice incident in Washington state, we want to fight for what you deserve. 

Call our firm today. Rest assured that you will pay nothing until we win compensation for you.