Dentist Malpractice Lawyer

Injury & Malpractice Attorney Serving Clients Near Dallas, Ft. Worth, Plano, Arlington, Irving, North Texas & Arkansas

Dallas Dentist Malpractice Attorney

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The Dentist Malpractice Problem

Dental malpractice cases used to be minor--a dentist pulled the wrong tooth, or left braces on for too long.  All that started to change when new dental procedures involving implants and other cosmetic surgeries became common in the last decade.  Suddenly dentists saw that they could make a lot of money doing these procedures, and some dentists started doing them without the proper training--or any training at all.

As a result, our dentist malpractice team started seeing clients who had had all their teeth ruined or removed, and clients whose ability to eat or even talk had been destroyed.  Fixing these errors can cost tens of thousands of dollars--or more.  We've also seen many clients who were badly hurt by dental infections or heart infections caused by a dentist failing to prescribe antibiotics.

Your Dentist Malpractice Team

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At Polewski & Associates, we have handled the most complicated and serious dentist malpractice cases for over 25 years.  Cases like:

  • failure to properly design and install dental implants
  • failure to properly design and place bridges and prosthetic teeth
  • botched orthagnathic and maxillofacial surgery
  • endocarditis caused by dentist negligence
  • life threatening infections
  • permanent nerve damage and loss of taste
  • tinnitus caused by tooth extraction

If we take your case, nobody will treat you better and with more respect.  You will deal with an attorney--not a "case manager". But don't take our word for it: check out our video client reviews, our written reviews, or what the independent lawyers rating service AVVO has to say about us. Check out our qualifications. You won't find anyone like us.

Act Now.

It is important that you contact us as soon as you can.  Tomorrow may be too late to sue, or the day that a critical piece of evidence is lost.  And there is no reason to wait:  the consultation is free, and you won't pay us a penny unless we win your case or get a settlement for you.

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How to Know If You Have A Good Dentist Malpractice Case

In order to have a good malpractice case against a dentist, you will need three things:

  1. Proof that the dentist made a mistake that is not acceptable in the dental profession;
  2. Proof that this mistake AND NOTHING ELSE caused the injuries you suffered; and
  3. Proof that your damages are so large that even the stingiest of juries would agree that you should be awarded more than $20,000.00

It is not enough to prove that the dentist made a mistake, and it is not enough to prove that you suffered damages because of something the dentist did.  All mistakes by dentists are not malpractice--some are unavoidable and acceptable complications of treatment.  And sometimes the mistake made by the dentist is not what caused the patient's damages.

Examples of this situation are:

  1.  A dentist fails to diagnose a condition which is so far advanced that the patient would need the same treatment anyway.  For example, it sometimes happens that a patient will have advanced bone disease in their jaw and the dentist fails to diagnose it.  In this situation, if the evidence is that the dentist's delay didn't make any significant difference in the treatment that the patient would need, there is no dentist malpractice case even though it is clear that the dentist made a mistake.
  2. A dentist pulls a tooth and the patient ends up with one of the common complications of an extraction -- a minor infection, a "dry socket" or temporary nerve damage.  In situations like these, the patient usually does not have a dentist malpractice case-- because the dentist can prove that any dentist performing the same extraction under the same circumstances might have had a same complications.  To win your case, we have to prove that what happened to you could not have happened if your dentist had done his job correctly.

Your Case Has to Be Big Enough to Make Sense for Your Family

Dentist malpractice cases are very expensive.  Texas law has put many hurdles in the way of patients suing dentists--laws designed to make it difficult and costly to sue.  The cost of paying expert witnesses, court reporters, medical records and other fees in dental malpractice cases often exceeds $20,000.00—and that’s before you factor in attorney’s fees.

For this reason, unless your case involves a permanent injury or extra dental treatment that will cost $20,000.00 or more, it probably doesn't make sense for you and your family to pursue the case.

We see a lot of cases  where the dentist clearly screwed up and the patient had to go through another dental treatment and was in pain for an extra week.  We have to tell our clients that they could "win" this case, but they would end up with nothing at the end of the lawsuit after paying the expenses and fees to get the "win".  We would never put you through  a lawsuit where we know that at the end of the day the experts would get paid, we would get paid, and you would likely end up with little or nothing.

We pride ourselves on taking good care of our clients, and our first concern has to be whether the case makes sense for you and your family.  Our clients come first, and if the case doesn't make sense for our clients, we're not going to pursue it.

Examples of Good Dentist Malpractice Cases

  1. Dentist’s mistake causes bone damage requiring bone grafts and implant surgery
  2. Dentist ignores signs of infection and the patient ends up with a long hospital stay that could have been prevented with simple antibiotics
  3. Dentist who is unqualified ruins a patient’s teeth while trying to put in veneers or caps—and the patient ends up having to have tens of thousands of dollars of repair work done
  4. Dentist cuts a patient’s nerves or badly cuts a patient’s tongue or gums, resulting in great expense and a lifetime of pain or lost taste
  5. Dentist performs unnecessary care (particularly on children) simply to make money.

All of these cases are probably dentist malpractice, and you should contact us right away if any of these things happened to you.

Help Us Help You

When you contact us about your dentist malpractice case, please let us know 1) what you think the dentist  did wrong; and 2) how the mistake caused your injuries. The more information we have about these issues, the better advice we can give you.

If you have seen another dentist who has told you that the dentist you are thinking of suing committed malpractice, that is another thing that is very helpful for us to know.  We'll need to know what other dentists think of the care you got--so if you haven't asked, you should.

Finally, if  the amount of money involved  in your case is less than $10,000, we’re sorry, but we're just not going to be able to help you.  In situations like this, we suggest that you contact the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners to make a complaint. You can file your complaint online.

Please contact us today about your dentist malpractice case by calling 972.230.6200. There is no reason to wait, and the consultation is free.

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