Dental Malpractice as a Cause of Action in New York

Dental malpractice cases in New York are a type of medical malpractice. They arise when a dentist fails to provide care that meets the accepted standards of the profession and that failure causes injury to a patient. Not every mistake by a dentist amounts to malpractice, and the law has specific requirements that a patient must prove in order to win a case. These requirements, or elements, are explained below.

Deviation from Accepted Standards of Dental Practice

To establish dental malpractice, a patient must first show that the dentist’s actions deviated from accepted standards of dental care. This means the patient must prove that the dentist did something that a reasonably skilled dentist would not have done under similar circumstances, or failed to do something a reasonably skilled dentist would have done.

Examples include drilling the wrong tooth, failing to diagnose an obvious dental issue, or performing a procedure without properly sterilizing tools. A plaintiff cannot rely on personal dissatisfaction with the outcome alone. Instead, expert testimony is usually required to explain what the standard of care is and how the defendant’s actions fell short.

Proximate Cause of Injury

The second element is causation. Even if the dentist made a serious mistake, the patient must prove that this mistake caused the injury. This is known as proximate cause. In simple terms, the injury must be a direct result of the dentist’s deviation from standard care.

For example, if a dentist incorrectly extracts a healthy tooth, and this leads to nerve damage or infection, the patient may be able to show that the harm resulted from the dentist’s actions. But if the same injury would have occurred even with proper treatment, the claim may fail due to lack of causation.

Proving causation often requires a detailed explanation from a dental expert who can link the dentist’s conduct to the patient’s injury. Medical records, test results, and a history of symptoms can all play an important role.

Conclusion

A successful dental malpractice claim in New York must prove two key elements: that the dentist’s care deviated from accepted standards, and that this deviation caused the injury. Without both, a claim will not succeed.

Because these cases are highly technical, they almost always involve expert testimony. Patients who believe they are victims of dental malpractice should gather their medical records and consult with an attorney experienced in malpractice cases to determine whether they have a valid claim.

Find the Law

“The requisite elements of proof in a dental malpractice action are a deviation or departure from accepted standards of dental practice, and that such departure was a proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries ( see Cohen v Kalman, 54 AD3d 307; Terranova v Finklea, 45 AD3d 572; Posokhov v Oselkin, 44 AD3d 921; Keevan v Rifkin, 41 AD3d 661, 662).” Chan v. Yeung, 66 A.D.3d 642 (N.Y. App. Div. 2009)