Dental / Medical Malpractice Suit Filed For a Woman Whose Tampa Dentist Allegedly Left Drill Burr in Her Head

Attorney Anthony T. Martino of the Tampa, FL law firm of Clark and Martino, P.A. has filed a dental / medical malpractice suit against oral surgeon Ralph Eichstaedt. According to the lawsuit, Eichstaedt extracted two teeth from 35-year-old Donna Delgado at his Busch Boulevard office in August 2008, and during the procedure the burr from a drill bit came loose from the tool and remained in her body.

For months following the surgery Delgado, a nurse and mother, suffered with bleeding, headaches, sinus infections and other issues as she attempted to recover from the oral surgery. According to the suit she returned to Eichstaedt's office several times hoping to have her concerns and health issues addressed, but was turned away.

It wasn't until July 13, 2009 – almost a year after the original surgery – that the true cause of her pain was discovered. Delgado went to the emergency room after experiencing numbness on the right side of her face as well as dizziness. As a part of its evaluation, hospital staff performed an MRI. The magnetic scan pulled on the 1-inch metal burr, forcing it to move around inside Delgado's head, causing extreme pain. It was determined by an ear, nose, and throat specialist that the burr should be removed from her maxillary sinus despite some safety concerns and on August 27, 2009 it was removed.

The dental / medical malpractice suit states that for a full year, Delgado suffered from continued pain with no help from her surgeon. More than 16 months after the initial surgery she's still recovering from the incident, and has concerns about long-term health implications such as nickel poisoning.

The dental / medical malpractice suit seeks damages and a jury trial for Delgado.