Shocker: Three-year old girl dies after root canal treatment in Pune

In a shocking incident, a three-year old girl lost her life after undergoing a root canal treatment at a dental clinic in Pune. The mishap took place on 29 June and the deceased’s family has lodged a complaint against the dentist, according to a report by The Times of India. [caption id=“attachment_2325998” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The girl, Sanavi Revatkar, was  getting the root canal done on one tooth and was accompanied by her father, Niranjan, an IT professional, when the incident occurred. He is quoted by The Times of India as saying, “While drilling into the tooth, I noticed that Sanavi had fallen asleep. The dentist used hydrogen peroxide thrice. After a few seconds, Sanavi suddenly opened her eyes wide and looked shocked. She went off to sleep again.” Revatkar further states that after the treatment was over, he suspected something was amiss as the girl was almost unconscious when he carried her. He alleged that the dentist didn’t do anything about her condition initially, and suggested a pediatrician only after he insisted that she wasn’t responding normally. The pediatrician tried to resuscitate her but when her condition didn’t approve, they rushed her to a hospital where she was declared dead, continues the report. The exact cause of death is yet to be determined. However an expert has said that the anesthesia might have reacted adversely, as the girl had said that she felt  uncomfortable after she was sprayed with hydrogen peroxide, according to the Pune Mirror. The dentist who runs a clinic named Family Dental Care Clinic at Kothrud in Pune has been booked under section 304(A) of the IPC (causing death due to negligence), and investigation is underway. The dentist has defended himself by saying that he had treated the the girl before. “There were no flaws in my treatment. When an oral cavity is diagnosed and the person complains of toothache, an RCT is performed. RCTs can be performed on one-and-a-halfyear- olds as well. (…) I treated her for 30-35 minutes, following which she felt giddy. She was then taken to the nearest pediatric expert. I was present when the doctor was treating here. There has been no negligence from my side. It was a case of medical emergency,” he told Pune Mirror. While the investigation into Sanavi’s death is still underway, it cannot be said whether it was medical negligence that lead to the incident.