Pamela Chico Cornejo

Dentist Office In Gaithersburg, MD
Within 15 miles
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11908 Darnestown Rd,
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
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How Patients Feel

POSITIVE
7

7 Out Of 10

DI Rating

Patient Reviews

5

About Pamela Chico Cornejo

Specialties

General Dentistry

Pamela Chico Cornejo Dentists

DI Rating 8.0

 

How Patients Feel

POSITIVE

Patient Reviews

5
By: - CorncernedMother
on October 20, 2014

Nightmare Dentist!!! Dr. Pamela Cornejo dropped a dental drill bit, and lodged inside my 7-year-old son's stomach. And this review is how she was untruthful and covered up her mistake: My son was scheduled to have a cavity filled. After drilling for a while, Dr. Cornejo told me it was too big to fill and a crown was required. Once the dental work was complete, she asked my son to have a panoramic x-ray, I refused for unnecessary xray exposure for the need was not explained. She informed us the missing bur one hr later after we left her office, saying that she has good habit for counting tools after patients left and she just noticed the drill bit was missing, asked us to come back for the x-ray that I refused for free. I immediately picked up my son to return to the dentist. At this time his teacher indicated my son was experiencing stomach pains. Her office oral x-ray revealed no bur, then went to ShadyGrove Radiology Center, confirmed from multiple xrays that the bur was lodged inside his upper stomach. This time, Dr. Cornejo referred us to see her oral surgeon. Given the bur was in stomach, not in his mouth, this referral seemed pointless to me. I called Dr. Cornejo to ask for another physician referral or if we should see his pediatrician. But she assured us there was no need, because the bur is small, is not sharp, there is no harm. I should not worry. And her oral surgeon also agreed with her the bur won’t cause any pain or discomfort and my son’s stomach pain was from the food he ate. I trusted her and took her advice – “go home and ‘wait & see’ for natural passing”. But later it turned out: my son had been in & out ER twice, even a surgeon team at National Children’s Hospital was prepared to remove it. Luckily the bur started moving, the surgery was not required. My son eventually passed it out. But the retrieved drill bit is not unharmful, it is rather an inch long sharp like a needle. I was most disturbed by Dr. Cornejo’s description “like a paper clip”. There is nothing of the sort. I shudder to think of that sharp object my son swallowed and the very real damage it could have done to a child. Dr. Pamela Cornejo shirked her professional duty by misleading us about the bur itself and the potential risk to the child. I brought it to the court. The trail was on 06/04/2014 at Montgomery County District Court. Dr. Pamela Cornejo testified she noticed the bur was not in place when she retracted her tool, but she continued the procedure and finally dismissed us. She didn’t want to give us a false alarm. The Judge asked why it took you so long to inform patient, how many minutes it will take you to open the suckcup if you ask them to wait, she said after we left she couldn’t find it anywhere, so she called her oral surgeon for what her next step was. Then she filled out a long complicated referral chest x-ray order form for us to go to a radiology center. The Judge ruled in favor of the defendant. Dropping the drill bit itself was not negligence, was an accident, one hr and half delay to inform us which was deviation from standard care, but didn't make the difference in the damage. I just hope this won’t happen on other children. Parents don’t want to see any serious injuries inflicted on their children. I also hope we all learn from our horrible experience. As my witness expert stated in the court from the comments of BCBS plan dental director, “as the parents, you should have been notified of the event and child’s mouth and throat should have been completely and carefully examined before he was dismissed. Any remedial action should have been immediate.”

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