Patchogue, NY asked in Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice for New York

Q: Can I sue my oral surgeon for emotional distress and negligence even though I’m not physically injured?

Went to get all four wisdom teeth pulled. Surgeon randomly suggested using laughing gas over IV anesthesia. Then, promised myself and my mother that he would add IV if I began feeling pain. Nurse put a little thing that sat on my nose to give me laughing gas. Began to feel it a bit but all surgeon asked is if I was fine. Then, went straight to about 12 painful shots of novocaine, especially two of them. Surgeon assured me that was the hardest most painful part and he lied. He didn’t let the novocaine sit for a bit and immediately began extracting the teeth. The first tooth hurt like hell. I began curling my legs, toes, and hands and cried out in pain. I said wait it really hurts it’s really painful, aren’t you supposed to wait for the novocaine to kick in. Surgeon replies no your fine your just feeling pressured. I’m not stupid I know the difference between pressure and pain and I told him pain and he was supposed to do the IV if I still felt pain but basically accused me of lying More

2 Lawyer Answers
Jonathan R. Ratchik
Jonathan R. Ratchik
Answered
  • Medical Malpractice Lawyer
  • New York, NY
  • Licensed in New York

A: Sorry to hear that the extraction of your wisdom teeth was an unpleasant experience. Unfortunately, the temporary pain and discomfort you experienced during the extraction will not justify bringing a dental malpractice lawsuit. Given the high cost of bringing dental malpractice lawsuits, they only make sense if there's been a serious, permanent injury.

Jonathan R. Ratchik
Jonathan R. Ratchik
Answered
  • Medical Malpractice Lawyer
  • New York, NY
  • Licensed in New York

A: Sorry to hear that the extraction of your wisdom teeth was an unpleasant experience. Unfortunately, the temporary pain and discomfort you experienced during the extraction will not justify bringing a dental malpractice lawsuit. Given the high cost of bringing dental malpractice lawsuits, they only make sense if there's been a serious, permanent injury. If your dentist is a member of the New York State Dental Association, you could file a complaint with the Association, https://www.nysdental.org/for-the-public/file-a-complaint which can perform a peer review of the dentist's treatment and arguable misuse of novicaine.

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