How can Dental Legal Connection assist you?
In working with Dental Legal Connection we will put you in contact with an attorney who can decide if you have legal grounds to pursue recourse against the dentist who performed the dental work in question. We cannot give you legal advice but from a dental standpoint we can examine and review your dental records to determine if the dental work done was below what we call an expected "standard of care".
Do you need an Attorney?
There also, unfortunately, needs to be enough damage to your mouth to make it financially feasible for an attorney to take your case. Most attorneys take cases of dental malpractice on "contingency" and to pay expert witnesses to testify on your behalf gets very expensive. They need to make sure everyone gets paid fairly and there is enough left for your mouth to be put back in good dental health. The harsh reality is that if you are dealing with one bad root canal or one failed dental implant or even a small bridge then this web site may not be for you.
Don’t have enough damage for an attorney, what are some other options?
If the dentist who did the work is a member of the local dental society my advice is to call them, explain the situation and let them try to help you. When a patient makes a valid complaint to the local dental society, all dentists who are members of the local, state and American Dental Association are required to have their work reviewed by a committee of local dentists. They are very fair and if they find that the dentist did not do a good job they usually make the dentist refund your money so you can have the work done correctly. This is usually a good way for smaller cases to be settled (kind of like small claims court). They are not, however prepared to handle settlements for large cases.
What can I expect out of Attorney process?
Unless you have had unusual and extensive damage to your teeth do not think that you are going to be given a HUGE settlement because of your poor dental work. Your purpose in all this should be to achieve financial retribution to allow you to have a competent dentist restore your mouth to good dental health. If the dentist caused teeth to be lost then your attorney will work toward having enough money to pay for maintaining your dental work for the rest of your life. When you reach a point where you need the services of a good dentist to get things done correctly we will work on putting you in contact with someone.
How do you get started?
Please fill out the preliminary screening form and I will review what you have to say about your dental work. If I feel that there is enough damage to your mouth that an attorney might be willing to take your case then we will move forward together.