Atlanta Injury Lawyers BlogChild Deaths From Dental Anesthesia in Georgia
To the surprise of many, a child can be put to sleep for a dental procedure by a dentist who does not have a medical degree. While this should not be a concern in and of itself, when you couple this with the fact that according to the American Dental Association, educational and training requirements to administer sedation and dental anesthesia in Georgia is governed by the Georgia Board of Dentistry, this creates an alarming and dangerous situation. As a Georgia lawyer who specializes in dental malpractice, including injuries caused by improper administration of anesthesia, I am concerned for the safety and well-being of our children in Georgia (as well as adults who receive general anesthesia when they undergo complicated dental procedures) and would hope someone other than the Georgia Board of Dentistry would oversee this area of dentistry.
While the anesthesia is reportedly administered by dentists with anesthesia training, in almost all cases involving complicated dental procedures such as root canals, dental implants or complicated extractions, the anesthesia is not administered by a medically trained (i.e., and M.D.) anesthesiologist. To make matters worse, dentist can perform sedation and anesthesia themselves without having a physician (anesthesiologist) or dental anesthesiologist present.
This is all concerning for adults, but the problem is exasperated when it comes to parents who bring their children to the dentist and are left in the dark as to what is happening in the exam room. Sedating children is much more complicate and potentially dangerous than sedating adults. There is a much smaller room for error with kids. While state dental boards require the dentist to qualify for a special anesthesia permit, there is no assurance that these dentists who are sedating our children are specially trained and qualified to sedate children — and parents need to know this. There are no national standards for what the dental anesthesia permit requires, and some states do not require it at all. And, the standards are determined by the American Dental Association, not by the ABA or by medical boards or even the two national boards for dental anesthesiology. Why this is so, is not immediately clear, but a national standard administered by the medical community seems to make sense.
To put this all in perspective, a pediatric anesthesiologist first becomes a medical doctor, then trains for four years to specialize in anesthesiology, and then spends an additional one to two years further sub-specializing in pediatric anesthesiology, because children are physiologically very different from adults. Dental boards do not require anything similar as far as education, training or experience for a dentist to administer anesthesia to children. In my opinion, they should.
Robert J. Fleming has been handling wrongful death and dental malpractice cases for individuals and families who have been harmed, injured or died as a result of the carelessness or negligence of dentists for more than 20 years. He practices in and around the Atlanta, Georgia area including handling lawsuits in Fulton, DeKalb, Clayton, Gwinnett, Cobb and other counties and nearby cities including Alpharetta, Austell, Avondale Estates, Chamblee, College Park, Conyers, Duluth, Decatur, Doraville, Hapeville, Johns Creek, Jonesboro, Lawrenceville, Norcross, Peachtree City, Riverdale, Roswell, Sandy Springs, Stone Mountain, and Smyrna. If you have been seriously injured and would like discuss your case in complete confidence, contact Robert J. Fleming directly on (404) 525-5150 or contact us online.
