LM from Georgia
 

I have a situation i need to ask a couple of questions. I had an absess in a molar and took 2 rounds of keflex. The dentist pulled the tooth and I wound up with an infection in the jaw bone and a partial dry socket. The dentist put me on clindamycin (much to my concern) I am allergic to penicillin, erythromycin, tatracycline, sulfa & vibramycin. I was on the clindamycin 6 days and had a major reaction and wound up being life flighted to the burn center in our state. The dentist knew my allergies. My question is was there anything else he could have put me on that day and does anyone think i have the right to sue this dentist?

Thank you,
bl georgia

Clindamycin does not have cross sensitivities to the other antibiotics you list that have been reported.

http://www.orthosupersite.com/view.aspx?rid=24679

This article goes into more detail.

Clindamycin is often used for bone infections. Your hypersensitivities are going to make treatment of your infection, difficult.

I don't see any error on your dentist's part. If you consult an attorney, they will give you more detailed opinions tho.

Hi bl,

Keflex is in a class of drugs called cephalosporins which are a similar class to penicillin. The side effects of each are similar in people who are allergic to one or the other. Therefore, someone with an allergy to either of these antibiotics could have a severe reaction to one or both. Sometimes, someone can tolerate one and not the other, but that can change at some point in their life. It depends on the individual.

It is also not uncommon to have a reaction to a medication a week or two (sometimes longer) after you have stopped taking it. Two rounds of Keflex is alot of that antibiotic to take. ALL antibiotics alter your intestinal flora by destroying most if not all of the good bacteria. Eighty percent of our immunity occurs in the intestinal tract and when the healthy bacteria in the tract is killed off by the antibiotic, it makes you susceptible to infection and side effects from medications. It may not have been the clindamicin (per say) that made you ill... it could have been the combination of the two antibiotics being given in too short a period of time without allowing the intestinal tract to heal. Think of it as a major overload to your system during a time when your immune system is already fighting a severe bone infection. Perhaps there was too much of a delay in removing the tooth??

My questions would be..... Why didn't the dentist pull the tooth sooner... why 2 rounds of Keflex before pulling the tooth? What happened during the extraction or post operatively that you ended up with a dry socket?

There are certainly other antibiotics that could have been given, but it's not certain that the clindamycin was the culprit... is it? Sometimes when someone is highly allergic to several different classes of antibiotics and they need to have one, the most controlled way to administer it would be intraveniously. Was that option ever offered to you?

How are you feeling now? Is the extraction site healed?

Bryanna



QUOTE=bl0226;673644]I have a situation i need to ask a couple of questions. I had an absess in a molar and took 2 rounds of keflex. The dentist pulled the tooth and I wound up with an infection in the jaw bone and a partial dry socket. The dentist put me on clindamycin (much to my concern) I am allergic to penicillin, erythromycin, tatracycline, sulfa & vibramycin. I was on the clindamycin 6 days and had a major reaction and wound up being life flighted to the burn center in our state. The dentist knew my allergies. My question is was there anything else he could have put me on that day and does anyone think i have the right to sue this dentist?

Thank you,
bl georgia[/QUOTE]