PROVO — A Provo dentist denies malpractice accusations made in a 4th District Court lawsuit that says he recommends unnecessary procedures, uses cheap metal crowns and refuses to respond to patient concerns.
Dr. Steven C. Pinegar is the target of a complaint by a former patient who alleges he made mistakes during procedures that caused her extreme pain.
Pinegar says the allegations are false.
"I'm sure (the lawsuit) will be dismissed," he told the Deseret Morning News.
Pinegar, who works at Avenue Dental Center in Provo, said he's been a dentist in Utah and Salt Lake counties for 25 years. He said he's never received a complaint alleging malpractice, and no complaints are filed against him with the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing.
In January, according to the suit, Svetlana Stocks, 59, who lived in Provo at the time of the treatment, went to Pinegar's office for a regular cleaning and check-up.
While there, Pinegar told her she needed a crown and that two of her wisdom teeth also needed work, according to the lawsuit, which was filed earlier this month.
Stocks alleges that Pinegar said the wisdom teeth could either be extracted or crowned and recommended crowning.
The next day, he put in three temporary crowns and one temporary filling and told her the permanent crowns — to be put in later — would be made of a noble (precious or semiprecious) metal, according to the court documents.
By Jan. 12, a day after the dental work, Stocks' gums were swollen and inflamed, and her left ear started to hurt, according to the suit.
When she called Pinegar's office to tell him of the symptoms, he prescribed a painkiller for a possible ear infection, according to the document.
Days later, the suit says, the pain was still so bad that Stocks returned and asked Pinegar to extract the tooth. She said she also asked if the other wisdom tooth should be pulled instead of being crowned and was told no.
After the other teeth were crowned, she says the pain continued. Stocks found another dentist and had other dental work done to alleviate the pain, according to the document.
Stocks hired an attorney, who had the metal crowns sent to a metallurgist in Salt Lake City to check on their quality. The metal expert said they were made of a nickel-based alloy, a cheaper, non-noble metal, said Spencer Macdonald, an attorney with Bartholomew, Silva & Associates.
Macdonald said their office has been talking at length with Pinegar's attorney about a settlement. They could not come to an agreement, he said.
"We offered what we thought was a fair settlement, but our (numbers) were very far apart," Macdonald said of his talk with the Pinegar's insurance company.
With any medical malpractice or dental suit, the accuser must provide written notice to the defendant, then wait 90 days before filing the actual suit.
In any other health-care lawsuit, individuals must attend a pre-litigation panel review with DOPL. During the hearing, a DOPL panel will listen to both si des and issue an opinion about the merits of the potential lawsuit.
However, dental lawsuits don't have to follow this procedure, Macdonald said.
In 2005, there were 2,270 dentists licensed in Utah. DOPL licenses approximately 160 different professions, and in all of those 4,725 complaints were filed. From those complaints, 4,349 investigations were opened and 3,999 were completed.
Of those nearly 4,000 completed investigations, 1,069 citations were issued, either in the form of fines or reprimands.
E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com