Got a Filling. Now You Need A Root Canal.

I'm Scott Kuboff, a dental injury lawyer with the law firm of Ibold & O'Brien. I investigate and prosecute dental claims on behalf of clients who were seriously injured following a dental procedure.

Often, I get asked whether you could pursue a claim against a dentist when you go in for a filling and then shortly thereafter end up needing a root canal on that same tooth. 

To bring a claim against a dentist, there has to be a good mix of liability and damages.  “Liability” is just another way of saying that the dentist did something wrong.  “Damages” are the amount of money you can recover for your injuries, harms, and losses that were sustained as a result of that error. 

Since these types of claims are very costly to pursue, I need to make sure that the recoverable damages considerably exceed the case expenses; otherwise I’m not doing any good for my clients if I’m unable to put any money into their pocket for the fix or for what they've been through.

Often, I get asked whether you could pursue a claim against a dentist when you go in for a filling and then shortly thereafter end up needing a root canal on that same tooth.  Remember, you have to have a good mix of liability and damages.  As to the liability component, it's not out of the question that a tooth with a deep filling is going to end up needing a root canal at some point down the road.  Now, the question of whether the root canal should have been performed in the first case, that's fair, but to get an answer to that question, I would have to obtain your records and send them to an expert for a formal review.

This brings me to the damage component, and whether the damages rise to the level to justify the time and expense. For a tooth that was recently filled and now needs a root canal, it's likely that the costs of litigation would far exceed any damages we may be able to recover. Therefore, it's not the type of claim that I would review.  Of course, this does not mean that other lawyers would not review the claim; you should call around to see if someone else could assist you.  However, in these circumstances I counsel folks to talk to the dentist to see if there's some type of credit that could be provided on their account to pay for the subsequent root canal and crown.

If you have sustained an injury following a dental procedure, please contact Scott for a no cost, no obligation consultation and case evaluation.