$3M settlement in gas line lawsuit; FDA wants TMJ implants reviewed

Dear DrBicuspid Member,

Two years ago next month, a young Kansas man went to a newly opened oral surgery center in Lawrence to have his third molars removed. But a series of unfortunate events left him brain damaged and legally blind.

Last year his legal guardians filed a lawsuit against the oral surgeon, the designers and builders of the surgical center, and the city, claiming serious errors were made in the installation and inspection of the center's medical gas lines. Now one of the defendants has opted to settle with the family rather than go to court in November, but the young man's lawyer says the case is far from over. Read more.

In Practice Management Community news, the Kansas Dental Association last week held a news conference at the state capitol to introduce a legislative package it says will help the state's most vulnerable populations gain much-needed access to oral healthcare services. Read more.

And the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has ordered three U.S. manufacturers of temporomandibular joint implants to conduct new studies to determine the length of time before the implants are removed or replaced, following reports of the implants not lasting as long as previous clinical studies had indicated. Click here to read more in this developing Cosmetics Community story.

Meanwhile, the Tennessee Board of Dentistry now allows oral and maxillofacial surgeons to use Botox injections for pain control. Will they soon allow general dentists to do the same? Read more.

And in diagnostic news, a well-known optical technique could dramatically improve the ability to detect head and neck cancer at an earlier stage than is possible with current diagnostic methods.

Finally, Dr. Sheri Doniger is still digging out from last week's blizzard in Chicago, but she took a few minutes to share some impressions from her visit to the Yankee Dental Congress in Boston last month.