Western Dental Services, one of California's largest dental health maintenance organizations, is grappling with multiple malpractice lawsuits, according to attorney Ed Zinman, D.D.S., J.D.
"I've sued them more than 65 times," Dr. Zinman said.
A July 29 report by KGO-TV of San Francisco details some of the lawsuits, and the TV station planned to air a follow-up report July 30.
In 1996, after another KGO report, the state of California investigated and fined Western Dental $1.2 million.
As of press time, Western Dental had not responded to a request for comment by DrBicuspid.com.
In the KGO report, Dr. Zinman's client Unieve Wilson complained that she lost sensation in the right side of her face after a Western Dental dentist severed a nerve while extracting her wisdom tooth. The company settled for $120,000 without admitting fault, according to the report.
"She was informed of the risks and benefits and signed a consent form to explain the possibility of nerve complications from removal of the lower wisdom teeth," Western Dental Chief Dental Director Louis Amendola, D.D.S., said in the KGO report.
In another case described in the KGO report, two patients complained that Western Dental dentists removed more teeth than were necessary, leaving them in need of dentures. The company responded that the patients needed extractions because of aggressive periodontitis and that they agreed to the procedures after all the options were explained to them.
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