What is the definition of Dental Malpractice and what is it you have to prove against the dentist or clinic?
Answers:
In a nutshell: You need to prove that the practitioner caused a bodily injury to you due to treatment that was not up to the accepted standard of care, within the time period specified by the statute of limitations.
"bodily injury": That means physical injury to your person only. You can't sue for dental malpractice based on "emotional or psychological injury" or "financial injury" or any such other circumstances. If you were not physically injured, you don't have a case.
"accepted standard of care." There are standards for treatment procedures established by the dental profession. If you were injured but the dentist did perform the procedure to the accepted standard of care, had informed you of the injury and taken the correct steps to treat the injury, you don't have a case.
"statute of limitations." This means you have a limited amount of time to file a lawsuit for most cases (it's usually 3 years). Under most circumstances, you can't wait 20 years then file a lawsuit.
Hope this helps.
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