All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth: Delaware IAB Addresses Claims of Narcotic-related Tooth Decay

Today’s post comes to us by way of Fred Freibott and curiously, this case was already pulled to be featured on the blog, actually one of two cases on a related subject.  As a legal pundit of sorts, I think of it as part of my role to identify “trending” topics at the IAB.  And while I am not sure that two cases makes for a “trend”, I am nonetheless struck by the fact that this is a topic I rarely if ever have seen addressed—when what to my wandering eyes should appear are yet two almost identical decisions having issued 5 weeks apart.  Dental claims…..and you know this has to be good.

So there are two cases, one belonging to Fred and one belonging to that that king of comedy, Mike Silverman.  Mike utilized Gregg Fink, D.M.D. as the Claimant’s medical expert.  Dr. Fink has a very interesting pedigree, as the son of that well-loved and oft-celebrated defense medical expert, neurologist Dr. Alan Fink. Fred’s case featured Dr. Michael Duffy (not sure about his lineage but one suspects that his Dad is no Dr. Fink).

So the first case is Kieran Sniadwoski v. Pulte Homes, IAB Hr’g No. 1208092 (Oct. 9, 2015) which belongs to Mike and involves a fellow with a crushed testicle as the result of a work accident (don’t you just hate it when that happens?)  He filed a Petition seeking an award of a penile pump (yes, but that’s another story for another day) and for dental care allegedly related to tooth problems arising from “dry mouth” prompted by continued narcotic usage.

The second case is Virgil Pugh v. New Castle County, IAB Hr’g No. 1354747 (Nov. 16, 2015) for which Fred has the following comments:

Here is one that you may like — client was on pain meds prior to his work injury for years from a prior car accident but after his work injury (5/12/10) and his compensable lumbar fusion (1/2/12) his meds were increased.  He developed xerostomia (dry mouth) which caused rapid decay of his teeth thus requiring him to need dental implants.  Claimant had prior dental issues but his dentist on 8/16/13 recorded in his chart that claimant’s dental health was good. Hearing Officer Susan Mack found the dry mouth was related to the increased dosages of the pain meds.  The defense expert gave numerous reason for dry mouth but after questioning seemed to concede that the only plausible explanation for the dry mouth was the pain meds.  Causation determined for Claimant.

The DME doctor in the Pugh case was Dr. David Mastrota. The DME doc in the Sniadowski case was Dr. Jeff Meyers. Both Claimants were awarded their dental treatment as being causally related to the use of narcotic pain meds…….and Mr. Sniadowski was awarded his penile pump.

SO what do you want in your Christmas stocking?

Irreverently Yours,

Cassandra Roberts