A 22-year-old Oregon man, Devin Bost, has sued an orthodontist for leaving his braces on for 11 years, resulting in straight but rotten teeth, The Oregonian newspaper reports.
Devin Bost, of Portland, claims he suffered serious tooth decay and periodontal disease from having worn braces from ages 7 to 18 while he lived in Eugene, Ore. Two to three years is normal for braces.
Some of Bost’s teeth will need to be replaced with implants, but others cannot be because they have rotted to the jaw, said his attorney, David Hollander.
The lawsuit states that Bost, whose mother is a medical doctor, “received an urgent phone call” in June 2008 from orthodontist Brad Chvatal’s office “that he needed to have the braces removed immediately.”
The paper writes, “As for how Bost could spend most of elementary school and all of middle school and high school years with braces, Hollander is still trying to sort the details out.”
“We aren’t really sure what happened,” he said.
Bost is seeking $185,000 — $35,ooo for dental bills and $15,000 for pain and suffering.
Chvatal told The Oregonian he could not have treated Bost until 2002, when he was licensed as an orthodontist. He has been licensed with the Oregon Board of Dentistry since 1997. He declined to comment on the case, citing patient privacy laws.
The president of the American Association of Orthodontist told ABC News that it was “extremely unusual” for somebody to wear braces for 11 years and that he “could not think of an instance where that would be the case.”
