An 18-year-old Maine student who died in February after a routine dental procedure was killed by a rare flesh-eating bacteria, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has ruled.
Benjamin LaMontagne died of complications of necrotizing fasciitis while having surgery to remove two impacted wisdom teeth on February 19, Mark Belserene of the medical examiner's office concluded. According to The Bangor Daily News, his obituary listed complications from oral surgery as the cause of death.
Following the procedure, the Long Island teen started experiencing typical swelling and pain. But when it intensified enough to stop Benjamin's breathing around 1 a.m. on February 22, his mother called for assistance.
However, by the early morning hours, he was dead.
Necrotizing fasciitis, commonly known as "flesh-eating bacteria," typically enters the body through a break in the skin, such as a cut or scrape, and ravages muscles, fat and skin tissue.
The disease can be caused by several types of bacteria, most commonly group A Streptococcus, which can usually be easily treated, but in some cases produce toxins that can destroy the tissue they infect.
Dr. John Molinari, infection control expert for the American Dental Association, stated them to be extremely rare. "I have not heard of anything like that, with necrotizing fasciitis as a result of routine oral surgery extractions," he said.
Dentists and oral surgeons follow well-established protocols to limit infection, including sterilizing instruments with heat and wearing gloves, masks and eyewear, which takes care of the "overwhelming majority of what could happen," Molinari said.
Dr. Thomas Dodson, chair of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle, said that in 20 years of surveys at the Massachusetts hospital he used to work at, not a single death was recorded in patients who had wisdom teeth extracted, according to UK MailOnline.
The dentist had not reviewed Benjamin's case but has decades of experience. "I'm trained as an epidemiologist, and I can't say I've even ever read [about a death] anywhere," he told the Portland Press Herald.