Dentist sued for performing 4 root canals, 8 crowns, 20 fillings in one day

A Minnesota dentist is being sued for malpractice for allegedly “disfiguring” a patient by performing more than 30 procedures in a single visit.

The civil lawsuit, filed in Hennepin County, Minnesota last week, alleges that Dr. Kevin Molldrem of Molldrem Family Dentistry performed four root canals, 20 fillings and eight crowns on Kathleen Wilson in one visit to his office in July 2020.

Wilson accuses Molldrem of causing her significant injuries, along with providing an unsafe dosage of anesthesia and falsifying medical records to cover it up, the Star Tribune reported.

The lawsuit alleges that the dentist “perform(ed) this work improperly,” resulting in pain and suffering, as well as emotional distress and disfigurement.

“It is inconceivable that Dr. Molldrem could have prepared and placed 8 crowns under these circumstances in the time allotted, not to mention the additional 20 restorations,” wrote Dr. Avrum Goldstein, a Florida dentist and expert witness brought on by Wilson’s lawyer, in an affidavit, reports USA Today.

Goldstein also wrote that Molldrem’s course of action to deal with Wilson’s “rare condition” of having tooth decay in almost all of her teeth was not the proper treatment.

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“She required a slow, thoughtful, careful and measured response to her disease,” he said in his report. “Trying to fill every hole in every tooth in her mouth in one visit is not only the antithesis of what was indicated, it is not humanly possible to achieve in an effective or constructive manner.”

Wilson’s records show that Molldrem said he administered eight tubes of dental anesthetic, known as carpules. But Goldstein found the first dose alone was eight carpules, and he administered 15 carpules throughout the five-and-a-half-hour visit.

Wilson went to a different dental office for an evaluation showing recurrent decay and other damage. For several months in 2022 she was treated at the University of Minnesota Dental School “for repair and replacement of many of her restorations in an attempt to stabilize her mouth,” Goldstein said.

If all of Wilson’s teeth end up having to be removed and replaced with implants, Goldstein said “all of the work that was done and all of the expense associated with it will have been for nothing.”

Wilson is asking for at least US$50,000 in damages.

Molldrem and his lawyer, Nathaniel Weimer, have not responded to requests for comment.

— With files from The Associated Press