A Minnesota woman is suing a dentist she claims performed work on every tooth in her mouth in a single visit several years ago that resulted in endless pain and suffering and left her disfigured.
Kathleen Wilson filed the lawsuit last month in Hennepin County against Dr. Kevin Molldrem of Molldrem Family Dentistry in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, the Star Tribune reported Dec. 25.
According to Wilson, who lives in Minneapolis, the dentist not only performed shoddy work on each of her 32 teeth during a single visit in July 2020 but he also lied about how much anesthesia he used.
According to a lawsuit filed by Wilson and reviewed by the Star Tribune, Molldrem gave her 20 fillings, eight dental crowns and four root canals during the five-hour visit.
She alleges he also used nearly double the anesthetic that was recommended and then falsified his records to hide that fact.
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The procedures, Wilson claims, left her in pain, disfigured and eventually in need of further dental care, which was necessary to “stabilize” the condition of her mouth, according to a dental expert her attorney hired.
For her malpractice suit, Wilson enlisted a law firm based in Florida that reviewed her case and Molldrem’s work and records.
The firm hired Dr. Avrum Goldstein, a dentist based in Naples, Florida, who reviewed Wilson’s case and filed a report that outlined what he said went wrong.
Goldstein said that during a July 7, 2020, consultation with Wilson, Molldrem accurately diagnosed her dental issues.
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But he concluded that the amount of work performed by the dentist the following week could not have been done properly in a mere five-and-a-half hours.
Goldstein described such an undertaking as “impossible” in the report, according to the Star Tribune.
The dentist added that Wilson had decay on “virtually every tooth in her mouth, something that is quite rare.” He further opined that Molldrem did nothing to address Wilson’s susceptibility to disease or to prevent tooth loss.
Goldstein said someone in Wilson’s position should have received a care plan that tackled the dental work in a more thoughtful and precise manner.
“Katie required a slow, thoughtful, careful and measured response to her disease,” the dental expert wrote. “Trying to fill every hole in every tooth in her mouth in one visit is not only the antithesis of what was indicated, it is not humanely possible to achieve in an effective or constructive manner.”
Goldstein concluded that Molldrem’s approach was “inconceivable” to him. The expert concluded the dentist was not truthful in documenting how much anesthesia he used on Wilson.
He added that people in need of the kind of care Wilson sought have a “finite capacity for dental treatment” and added that Molldrem’s work and Wilson’s suffering might have all been for nothing if she ended up with a mouth full of implants.
“This not only impacts the economics of her dental needs, it impacts the emotional trauma associated with extensive dental treatment,” Goldstein said in his report.
Wilson is seeking a minimum of $50,000 in damages, citing disfigurement, embarrassment and pain and suffering.
The Star Tribune reported that Molldrem did not respond to messages seeking comment on the civil suit against him.
His practice in Eden Prairie opened in 2004.
On his website, Molldrem says he has been a practicing dentist since 1999 after he completed his curriculum at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry six months early.
