HYDERABAD : A man in his 20s, who wanted to get a cosmetic dental contouring procedure to reshape his teeth, passed away soon after the operation.
A month before his wedding, Laxmi Narayan Vinjan went for a consultation, booked an appointment and got ready for the procedure costing around Rs 50,000 – Rs 60,000 at a private dental centre. But in a tragic case of “operation success, patient dead”, Vinjan passed away.
According to Dr Ramakrishna Reddy, a senior dentist at the FMS International Dental Centre, Vinjan had made an appointment for 3.30 pm on February 16. “Initially, he had come for consultation on January 30 and later, he made a call on February 16 morning, seeking an immediate procedure as he had a family function coming up and his wedding was around the corner,” he said.
Everything went as per textbook procedure and there was no medical negligence, asserted the dentist, who added that the entire procedure was recorded with CCTVs and has been shared with the police.
“The patient had a root canal done for two teeth almost 1.5 years ago. He was not allergic to anaesthesia. In any case, in the current procedure, only a total of 1.1 ml of local anaesthesia was used, which is the lowest amount to be used in any dental procedure,” said the doctor.
As per procedure, the dentist had removed two of the old teeth and performed gum reduction. Following this, the patient intimated that he had a pain in the lower teeth, for which the dentist gave a painkiller and some water. Vinjan took a gulp and complained that he felt like puking but could not do so. According to the dentist, this is not normal.
“Only a while ago, he was interacting casually with the doctor, was looking at the mirror, checking his phone and talking about how he wants his teeth to look like. But suddenly, he complained about feeling pukish then rushed to the restroom and then said he had a stomachache,” said Dr Ramakrishna.
Vinjan was taken to the recovery room, he was given antacids and emergency injections like steroids and adrenaline. CPR was initiated and the ambulance was alerted. By then, he had two episodes of seizures and experienced breathlessness and chest pain.
Soon, an ambulance arrived and he was taken to a private hospital. “Vinjan was admitted to the ER and he was immediately attended to. But even after 45 minutes of continuous CPR, the patient could not be revived,” the doctor said.
Meanwhile, Vinjan’s family lodged a complaint, based on which Jubilee Hills police registered a case under Section 304 A (death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The police said since the procedure appears to have been done as per book, the cause of death is yet to be ascertained.
“We have registered a case and are awaiting the postmortem reports. We are also writing to alert the medical counsel about the incident,” the police said. “Only based on the medical reports, we can proceed further into the investigation,” he added.