My child contracted oral herpes while visiting the dentist, what can I do?

I am positive my child contracted the herpes virus on his last dentist visit. He went on a Monday morning and then by sometime Tues he said his tongue was itchy. I dismissed this because I didn't think anything of it. Then all of a sudden either Tues or Wed this huge sore appeared on his lip and sores inside his mouth. He has also had fever, bad breath, and doesn't want to eat or drink because of the pain. I took him to the Dr yesterday and he told me it was HERPES. Dr gave 2 RX and said, following the timeline, it is right to assume my son contracted this at his last dentist visit. Then he said I can't go and "hammer" the dentist.





What can I do, can I prove this and file a complaint, possibly lawsuit? I know that Herpes is controllable but not curable. No one in my family has this so he did not get it from us.





This really infuriates me!!! He is only 5 years old and this was his 2nd visit with this particular dentist, now he has to live with this forever. What can I do?

My child contracted oral herpes while visiting the dentist, what can I do?
Well a good percentage of the population does carry this gene, and it may or may not be the dentists fault. I do not know many who do not have it at one time or another. I do know the first break out of it is the worst and grossest. I also know having this form of herpes is similar to having say chiken pox. The good news and I read this a long time ago, is that it may offer protection from the genital form of herpes. I got it badly at 13, from nowhere. Im forty now. I have nowhere near as bad as my first breakout. When I do get it, I buy ABRIVA its like 15.00 at the drug store, and cuts the time the sore stays in half. Im sorry he got it, but it really isnt the end of the world. To litigate over a simple herpes virus on the mouth is silly and may be hard to prove that it came from the dentist, escpecially if the dentist has a spotless record, and will cost a lot of money, time and stress, for somthing that in the end is rather minor, and he probablly would have gotten anyway, because if he didnt have the predesposition for it in the first place, he would not have gotten it. I know not what you wanted to do. But I promise, the first 1 or 2 break out are the worst. now almost 40, when I do get them, usually from the sun, they are very small, and abriva takes care of them quickly.





Hell be fine, youll be fine, I understand you are Irate, I may be too, but to go into a lawsuite, over this, I dont belive its really malpractice. I have Lupus, and could have sued over much more much much more.... But never have. The hassle is just not worth it, sorry


Your son is not scarred for life sweetie, he will be fine


Chris
Reply:The madness of the "See it, sue it" culture, second only to Political correctness.





Just take him to the GP and get meds for it. Things happen it's called "life". Can't just play the "lawsuit" card everytime it doesn't go the way you want.
Reply:I would think it would be possible to file a lawsuit, if the doctor said it's most likely he got herpes from the dentist. I know it's a pity too many people sue everyone they know wildly and irresponsibly, but in this case I think it's right. A dentist's equipment should be sterilized so no diseases would be transmitted between patients! That is part of a dentist's job; people's health is at stake.


If you can't take the dentist to court or take any other legal action, then you could at least tell friends and family not to do business with that particular dentist. Get the word out that this happened, and I'm sure lots of people would think twice before visiting that dentist.





This is an outrage.
Reply:I'm sorry it happened that way but 80-90% of the population has oral herpes. Ever had a cold sore, fever blister or cankersore, if so then you have it as well. My 18 month old has had two cold sores in his life. I had one real bad breakout of cankersores (about 20-30) when I was 16. The doctor said it was probably brought on by stress since I'd had small ones off and on for years. I've never got a breakout like that again, but when I'm stressed I will get one.





I'm sorry this happened to him but most likely he won't have future mass breakouts, just one every now and again. And in all honesty, he probably would have picked it up somewhere else along the line so relax. Abreva is expensive but really helps for cold sores and fever blisters.
Reply:I know it's hard to see your child in pain, and I understand your anger...BUT...herpes is part of the varicella virus family. If your son has had chicken pox, he can get cold sores. A person does not always get the chicken pox outbreak on the skin either. It can seem like the flu. You don't know unless you have a titer drawn to see if there are antibodies in the blood. Cold sores and canker sores can be triggered by trauma to the site. If a lip is bumped, burned from the sun or stretched too much by a dentist (which is probably what happened) an outbreak can occur. Also, cold sore herpes is NOT the same as the sexual herpes.
Reply:Well I doubt seriously he caught it from the Dentist office there is an incubation period for herpes and 1 or 2 days I don't think so..


Take your sue mentality and stuff it nobody will take your case unless you want to pay a bunch of money for nothing..You have no proof! rinse the childs mouth with warm salt water and give him Lysine that will help speed up healing....
Reply:It normally takes longer than that for the sore to appear, so he could have caught it from anyone who kissed him etc, even another child in play, putting something sharedin his mouth, anything.





You can't do anything even if it did come from the dentist, as you cannot prove it.





Just relax, 80% of people have oral herpes so he won't exactly be abnormal. It is bad at first but by the time he has had it a few months he will be fine. Some people never get outbreaks as adults.





Look on the bright side. I didn't get oral herpes as a child so I contracted 'oral' herpes hsv1 genitally through being given oral sex as an adult. This is very common - at least this will never happen to your son, the stigma is much worse genitally.