Dr. Dionysius David

Image Credit: FACEBOOK: Care Dental

A Kelowna man who was left with an infection in his bone after having his wisdom teeth out is suing the dentist who pulled his teeth.

According to a notice of claim filed June 30 at the Kelowna courthouse, patient Tynan Pearce alleged dentist Dr. Dionysius David botched removing his wisdom teeth and told him he may need to go to the hospital to have the procedure finished.

Pearce launched the case against the dentist and the clinic Care Dental, although Dr. David no longer works there.

The court document said Pearce went to see Dr. David in July 2021 about having his wisdom teeth out.

Dr. David said his wisdom teeth required extraction with intravenous sedation and that the clinic had an in-house surgeon. The dentist also noted it was difficult to freeze in the upper arch, the court documents said.

When Pearce went back a month later to have the teeth removed, Dr. David told him the nurse had taken the day off so he couldn't do an intravenous sedation for the procedure.

"Instead the procedure would be performed with local freezing only. (Pearce) was also informed that Dr. David was not a surgeon but a general dentist," the notice of claim read.

The dentist said the procedure would be easy and Pearce agreed to go ahead with it.

"The procedure was not easy," the court document said. "Dr. David used the maximum amount of freezing but (Pearce) was still able to feel the procedure."

The notice of claim said at one point during the procedure the dentist told Pearce he may need to stop and have him go to the hospital to finish it off.

The procedure took two and a half hours and Pearce left with a narcotic painkiller, an anti-inflammatory, an antibiotic and some gauze.

"(Pearce) had significant pain post-procedure and could feel something coming out of his gums," the statement of claim said.

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He returned to the Care Dental clinic and saw a different doctor who told him there was a piece of jawbone coming through his gums.

"The dentist provided (Pearce) with a syringe to clean the holes from the extraction sites and advised him to pull the bone out with tweezers if it came out any further," the notice of claims read.

A few days later he went to the emergency room and was given more antibiotics and painkillers.

About six weeks later, and still in pain, he went to see a different dentist at a different clinic who told him that he had bone chips coming out, a big lump on the lower left jaw and his lymph nodes were inflamed. He did X-rays and prescribed a germicidal mouthwash.

A few weeks went by before he then went back to Dr. David, who told him he had a bone infection and required an immediate procedure.

"Dr. David re-opened the wounds to clean out the extraction sites. He noted that necrotic bone and infection was present," the court documents said.

More drugs were prescribed including an opioid painkiller.

Pearce argues because of this, he suffered a significant injury.

"It was the responsibility of Dr. David to perform the procedure so as not to injure (Pearce) and he knew or ought to have known that by failing to exercise appropriate caution or failing to properly perform the procedure could result in permanent injury," the notice of claim states. "Further, it was the responsibility of Dr. David to obtain informed consent from (Pearce) to perform the procedure. (He) was not properly informed of his health condition, what the procedure entailed, his alternative treatment options or the risks of the procedure."

Pearce is suing for an unspecified amount saying he was left with dental pain and a jaw injury, along with excessive bone removal and chronic pain.

He also says the injury caused post-traumatic stress symptoms and depression.

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Dr. David has been a licenced dentist since 1999 and according to the BC College of Oral Health Professionals has always had a clean record.

"My lawyer has made me aware that a lawsuit was recently filed with the court system. Since the matter is now within the legal system it would be improper for me to comment in the media," Dr. David said in an email. "It may be possible for me to comment in the future, but not at this time."

Pearce's lawyer did not respond to our request for comment. Dr. David has not yet filed a statement of defence.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

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