This dental care case takes place in Connecticut and involves a 60-year-old female with a past medical history of alcoholism. She underwent a total hip replacement which developed an infection. The patient presented to her dentist and required a tooth extraction. Her past medical history (total hip replacement, infection and alcoholism) had been noted by the treating dentist. Following the extraction, the patient experienced significant pain and complained of puss and discharge from the extraction site. The patient notified the dentist on numerous occasions but no antibiotics were offered or prescribed. The patient then followed up again to suggest that an infection had developed at the extraction site; again, the dentist failed to ask the patient to come for a check up or prescribe antibiotics. After a week, the patient presented to another dentist who identified the infection and prescribed antibiotics. Unfortunately, the infection had spread to the knee replacement and the patient consequently required a revision knee replacement surgery. The patient developed a host of complications stemming from the failure to prescribe antibiotics following the extraction.
