Travels of a Dental Tool

ORLANDO (CN) - A family claims a dentist dropped a dental tool down a man's throat, necessitating a colonoscopy to remove it, and when the man returned for more work on his dentures less than a year later, the dentist dropped another tool down his throat, which lodged in his lung, necessitating repeated surgeries, from which the man died.

The estate of Charles Gaal Jr. claims Dr. Wesely Meyers dba Aloma Park Dental dropped an "implant screwdriver tool" down Gaal's throat on Oct. 4, 2006, necessitating a colonoscopy to find and remove it.

On May 1, 2007, Gaal returned for more work on his dentures, and Meyers "dropped a ball implant torque mini-wrench into the throat of Decedent," according to the complaint in Orange County Court. "Further, defendant Meyers lost the ball attachment which he presumed was also swallowed by decedent Charles K. Gaal Jr.," the complaint states.

Gaal underwent a colonoscopy that day, which failed to find the tools, but a chest X-ray allegedly found one in the lower lobe of a lung. He underwent a bronchoscopy, "which was unsuccessful in that the dental tool was not retrieved," had a second bronchoscopy the next day, also unsuccessful, and on May 3 "underwent a surgical procedure which included cracking open his chest cavity and removing the lower lobe of his left lung," according to the complaint.

The metal tool surgeons removed "was in fact the dental tool defendant Meyers dropped down the throat of decedent ... on May 1," the complaint states.

Complications set in, necessitating repeated surgeries and emergency aid, and Gaal died on June 19, the family says. They are represented by Mark Glassman of Weston, Fla.

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