150 families have now filed lawsuits in Orange County Superior Court , Santa Ana, California against Children’s Dental Group — Number is expected to grow

By Deepa Bharath | dbharath@scng.com | Orange County Register
PUBLISHED: January 16, 2019 at 6:11 pm | UPDATED: January 18, 2019 at 2:19 pm

                              

IRVINE — Sixty-five families whose children were infected by rare bacteria when they underwent pulpotomies, or “baby root canals,” at an Anaheim clinic two years ago filed a lawsuit Wednesday, Jan. 16, naming the clinic, its operators, the company that installs and maintains water filtration systems, and several dentists.

The lawsuit, which was filed in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, alleges that Children’s Dental Group and dentists who provided services there performed hundreds if not thousands of unnecessary pulpotomies on children. Potentially deadly Mycobacterium abscesses was found in several samples the county’s Health Care Agency took from the clinic’s water system. 

The children, ages 3 to 9, all underwent pulpotomies at the clinic between April and July 2016. In all, 500 children underwent the procedure during that time.

Children’s Dental Group has since become part of Western Dental. The clinic in question on East Lincoln Avenue is not owned or operated by Western Dental, but has changed hands.

So far, 150 families have filed lawsuits against the clinic and the number is expected to grow, said Dan Hodes, Irvine-based medical malpractice lawyer who is representing the children and their families.

READ THE ENTIRE UPDATE ON THIS STORY HERE

Related links:

Orange County Public Health - Dental Outbreak (Mycobacterium)

57 children who underwent baby tooth root canals, orpulpotomies, at Children’s Dental Group have been hospitalized – October 27, 2016

Anaheim dental clinic ordered to stop using water after 10 kids hospitalized – September 16, 2016

Law Offices of James R. Moriarty Facebook

Law Offices of James R. Moriarty Website

57 children who underwent baby tooth root canals, or pulpotomies, at Children’s Dental Group have been hospitalized

CHOC given $150,000 to treat children sickened in dental clinic infection outbreak
By COURTNEY PERKES / STAFF WRITER
Contact the writer: cperkes@scng.com 714-796-3686
So far, 57 children who underwent baby tooth root canals, or pulpotomies, at Children’s Dental Group have been hospitalized at CHOC with confirmed or probable mycobacterial infections, said Dr. Jasjit Singh, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Orange hospital. About 21 patients need to take a tightly regulated drug typically used to treat leprosy, she said.
Ordering the oral antibiotic, clofazimine, from the Food and Drug Administration requires a lengthy approval process for each child. CHOC will be expanding a part-time nurse’s hours to full-time to oversee the process.
“It’s a much more rigorous process than writing a prescription for an antibiotic,” Singh said. “That process requires some administrative and logistical work. It requires filling out those FDA forms.”
…“This is a nightmare,” Morales said. “I stay awake at times picturing her with a hearing aid or with kidney problems. That’s why I asked the nurse what would happen if we didn’t give this to her. She said she could die.”
READ THE ENTIRE UPDATE HERE

---

In related news, Christine Curtis brought her three children to Children’s Dental Group of Anaheim and says dentists perfromed up to 11 baby root canals on her children, all while they were strapped down and restrained.  Curtis now believes the work was unnecessary and along with a growing number of parents has contacted Texas Attorney, Jim Moriarty for help.
Wayne Dolcefino, President of Investigative Communications firm, Dolcefino Consulting spoke with Moriarty:

“This assembly line dentistry uncovered in at Children’s Dental Group smacks of Medicaid Fraud,” says Moriarty. “A Full state and federal investigation is owed to U.S. taxpayers.  I believe Children’t Dental is over treating these childdren to make a buch using higher cost stainless steel crowns, and falsifying the need for baby root canals to increase the cost of taxpayers.”
“I beleive the infection outbreat in California could lead to proving Children’s Dental Group is systematically abusing children.”
Moriarty was the legal architect behind the groundbreaking lawsuit against the Small Smiles Dental chain, and now represents the family of 4-year old Neveah Hall, the little girl left severely brain damaged by a bad dentist.

Related Links:
Law Offices of James R. Moriarty Facebook
Law Offices of James R. Moriarty Website