CLAIM AGAINST A DENTAL COMPANY.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12969, 23 November 1907, Page 10

CLAIM AGAINST A DENTAL COMPANY.

■ a- - fSPZCIAZ. TO "THB PRESS.") DUNEDIN, November 22. Th© hearing of the cas© Harrison v. tho London Dental Company, claim of £2000 for domages sustained through alilegeel negligent and unskilful extraction of teeth, was continued in the Supremo Court this morning. Dr. Lindo Ferguson stated h© was of opinion that thero wis come foreign body lodged in the mini's lung. If « person were too deeply immersed in th© nnassthetie his tongue would fall txiek into his throat, but tj'.iere should b© no difficulty in getting th© tongue hockagain. Ther© were no signs of tuberculosis about the patient. Dr. Roberts said he examined pliintiff'b sputum and found absolutely no traces ©f tuberculosis. Dr. H. P. Picker ill exhl it was per-muss-iblp for a dentist to himself administer «n anesthetic provided there was a second person present. There was lhvoys a of a piece of tooth dJXM.ping from tfie forceps, but with proper car© this should never happen. In the cne© of a prolonged sitting it was absolutely necessity that a skilled person should be in attendance to administer tho anaesthetic. Inhered that the adoption of Paterson's nasal inhaler, used by the London Dental Company, was a temptation to a de.it.Ft to tak© unneeessirv risks. Th© patient was thereby liable" to become too deeply immerseel in the anaesthetic, and if, while h© was in this condition, a tooth escaped down his throat ther© was a. greater possibility of its becoming lodged in his windpipe. Th© ©scape of 3. tooth into « patient's lun-g was a danger to his life. It was desirable that a dentist should not be hurried while operating, and that bis attention should be centred wholly en his work of extracting teeth. Dr. William Newlarid* Mid h© was in ehirge of the X rays department at th© hospital. He made a series of photographs of plaintiff, and there was something shown in the negatives that might indicate the presence of a foreign substance on the lung.