Facts

Plaintiff Jean Badalyan, 31, had his left lower wisdom tooth extracted by defendant Farnad Parvaz, DDS, an oral surgeon. Plaintiff ended up with numbness and taste loss to the left half of his tongue.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff claimed that defendant negligently severed his left lingual nerve by not keeping the drill burr within the field of operation. Plaintiff argued that dentists are supposed to make the incision on the buccal, or cheek, side of the lower gum, then they are to raise the flap and drill away the buccal bone covering the tooth in order to access the full bony impacted tooth. Plaintiff also claimed the defendant violated a rule where, when sectioning a lower wisdom tooth, the dentist must not drill all the way through the tooth. Plaintiff argued that dentists are taught to leave an enamel shell and to split the tooth with a dental elevator to remove the pieces from the buccal side. On the tongue side of the tooth is the lingual plate of bone. The burr will pulverize this bone, which is softer than tooth enamel. On the other side of the lingual bone is the lingual gum tissue where the lingual nerve runs. The nerve provides sensation and taste to the left half of the tongue.

Plaintiff presented post-extraction CT scans showing a bony defect, where a chunk of the lingual plate was missing. Plaintiff had nerve repair surgery four months after the extraction. The repair surgeon found the transected ends, proximal and distal, scarred into soft gum tissue at the location of the bony defect. Moreover, the repair surgeon documented and testified that the lingual nerve was completely transected except for a tiny piece of the nerve covering.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Defendant claimed that the wisdom tooth had created the bony defect by growing into the lingual plate. Defendant also disputed that the lingual nerve was transected because they claimed that between the extraction and the repair surgery, a UCLA chief resident had charted that plaintiff had slight improvement and some feeling to the left half of the tongue.

Settlement Discussions

On Dec. 29, 2011, plaintiff made a 998 offer of $175,000. On June 19, 2013 defendant made a 998 offer of $9,999.99.

Specials in Evidence

$13,637 $3,953

Injuries

Plaintiff suffered a left transected lingual nerve, and permanent loss of taste and sensation to two-thirds of the left anterior of his tongue.

Result

Plaintiff was awarded $17,590 in economic damages, and $454,704 in non-economic damages, for a total of $472,294. Plaintiff's non-economic damages award was reduced to $250,000 per MICRA, for a total of $267,590. After the verdict, the case settled for $267,590 post-MICRA reduction plus $113,326 in prejudgment interest and recoverable costs, for a total of $380,916.

Other Information

FILING DATE: March 2, 2011.

Deliberation

five hours

Length

eight days