Dentist denies she was negligent in case of swallowed instrument
VANCOUVER — A Vancouver dentist is denying allegations of negligence after a metal instrument was dropped into the mouth of one of her patients and surgery was later required to remove it.
Istvan Balyi filed a lawsuit claiming that he suffered a number of injuries, including stomach pain and complications due to medications, after a drill bit attached to a handheld drill was dropped into his mouth by Dr. Roxana Saldarriaga in May 2015. Several days later, a surgeon extracted the drill bit, he said in a notice of civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court.
In her response to Balyi’s lawsuit, Saldarriaga said the instrument that fell into Balyi’s mouth was a dental screwdriver and that the incident happened after his fifth dental implant had been placed and while the healing abutment on that implant was being tightened.
She says she instructed Balyi not to move while she reached for her cotton pliers to remove the instrument, but he sat upright and swallowed the instrument.
Balyi also alleged that Dr. Dennis Nimchuk, Saldarriaga’s associate at a dental clinic on West Broadway, had advised him to swallow the drill bit. In the response to the lawsuit, it says Nimchuk was not the treating dentist, but was with other patients at the time the plaintiff swallowed the instrument and did not instruct him to swallow it.
After Balyi swallowed the instrument, Saldarriaga says, she instructed her dental assistant to provide him with a glass of water to drink.
Balyi alleged that his dentist failed to provide proper followup to the incident, but Saldarriaga says that on the day following the incident, they discussed the fact he had not passed the instrument and should continue to monitor his stool. She says she advised Balyi to eat food rich in fibre and monitor his stool for the next seven days to see if the instrument passed.
“At no time during his consultations with the defendants on or after May 13, 2015, did the plaintiff indicate that he was in any pain or discomfort; he exhibited no signs of distress and denied any gastrointestinal symptoms,” says Saldarriaga’s response.
“The plaintiff caused or contributed to any injury, loss or expense he has sustained by failing to follow Dr. Saldarriaga’s instruction not to move immediately after the instrument landed in his mouth.”