Every single year, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR), receive thousands of medical malpractice complaints. Health professionals throughout the state, have to adhere to the standards set by the IDFPR, and if they are unable to do so, could potentially lose their license. For dentists, medical malpractice complaints are much more common than they would like to admit. If you are facing a complaint or other licensing issue from the Illinois Dental Board (which operates as a branch of the IDFPR), it is time to seek out professional legal assistance.

Mistakes You Could Make

While the vast majority of Americans put complete trust in medical experts, all professionals are humans, and mistakes can occur in any occupation. For dentists, a medical error can come with costly ramifications. Below are some of the most common forms of medical malpractice in the field of dentistry.

• Misdiagnosis: When most people think of medical malpractice, they think of surgical error or overt misconduct. In all reality, the most common form of malpractice in the medical world is incorrect, missed, or delayed diagnosis. Misdiagnosis accounts for approximately 15% of all medical malpractice cases. For patients relying on dental assistance, misdiagnosis can be life-threatening. For instance, if a dentist misdiagnoses a cancerous mouth tumor, as a harmless one, the patient could die due to the medical error.
• Incorrect Drug Dosage: Dentists have the responsibility to administer drugs to patients, as needed. If a patient is set for an oral operation, dentists often times provide their patients with anesthetic, analgesia, or another prescribed drug. Giving a patient too much of any of these drugs can result in severe injury and even death. It is also important to note that prescribing patients the wrong medication could cause patients severe medical complications or even fatal reactions.
• Improper Equipment Maintenance: Dentists around the country require assistance from high-tech equipment, to ensure that their patients receive the highest quality of care possible. If a dentist uses equipment that is either malfunctioning or improperly sanitized, they could put their patients in danger. Here in the United States, hundreds of medical malpractice cases involving improper equipment occur every year.

Contact a DuPage County Dentist Defense Lawyer

At the Law Offices of Joseph J. Bogdan, L.L.C., our team firmly believes that no person should lose their livelihood based on one mistake. If you believe that your dental license may be in jeopardy, you need an attorney that you can believe in. Fortunately, with well over a decade of legal experience in the state of Illinois, our team is confident in our ability to represent you in a disciplinary conference with the IDFPR. To schedule a meeting with a qualified Illinois dentist license defense attorney, call us today at 630-310-1267.

Dental school is a rigorous program that comes with many hours of studying and testing. There are some requirements to be a dental hygienist, and the duties of a dental hygienist are not the same as a dentist. Dental hygienists often work closely with the dentist and other personnel, but their duties as more restricted.

What Tasks Can a Dental Hygienist Perform?

In Illinois, a dental hygienist can perform the procedures of dental hygiene, dental health education functions, and all other procedures that may be performed by a trained dental assistant. A dental hygienist may also record observed case histories and oral conditions.

Many years of hard work and long study hours are behind you, after finally achieving your dentistry license. Once this feat has been completed, you are ready to start out on your professional journey to make a difference in someone else’s life. Whether performing a common tooth cleaning session, extracting an infected tooth, or treating a major gum disease, you now have the knowledge to help others with their dental needs. However, do you know what will happen if your dentistry license expires or is suspended, and you need to reinstate it? Is reinstating your dentist’s license even possible?

Restoring Your Dentist’s License

There are many reasons why a person’s dentistry license may be suspended, expired, or revoked. A dentist may have made a mistake when performing a routine tooth cleansing, therefore causing further complications for the patient. Or the dentist has somehow forgotten to renew his or her license. Whatever the case may be, there is still a possibility that the dentist may be able to restore the dentistry license. Depending on how long the license has expired or has been revoked or suspended, there are different rules that must be followed.

Becoming a dentist and building a business can be a very exciting time in one’s professional career. However, a prospective dentist needs to know all of the prerequisites to obtain his or her dentist license in the State of Illinois.

There are several steps in the process of receiving a dentist license, and the end product is typically very rewarding, with the potential of bringing in clients and referrals.

Obtaining an Illinois Dentist License