Woman in her 70s dies after receiving 11 implants at once at Gangnam dental clinic; anesthetic toxicity suspected

A woman in her 70s died of cardiac arrest after undergoing surgery to have 11 dental implants placed at once at a clinic in Gangnam, Seoul. The National Forensic Service said the death is believed to have resulted from a toxic reaction to a local anesthetic.

According to MBN, the woman, identified only as A, underwent surgery at dental clinic B in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, last December to have 11 implants placed simultaneously. Her condition deteriorated sharply just 16 minutes after the drug was administered. She was transferred in cardiac arrest to the emergency room of a nearby university hospital, where she later died.

Emergency room records from the university hospital show that clinic staff told attending physicians they had used 16 cartridges of articaine. Articaine is a local anesthetic commonly used in dentistry; the recommended maximum dose is 7 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.

A weighed only 54 kilograms, yet she received 1,088 milligrams of the drug — roughly three times the allowable limit. The overdose appears to have resulted from the volume of anesthetic required to place 11 implants in a single session.

The National Forensic Service recently concluded that A's death is presumed to have been caused by a toxic reaction to articaine. The drug is widely used in dentistry for its fast onset and strong anesthetic effect, but exceeding the recommended dose can trigger toxic reactions including dizziness, seizures, respiratory distress and cardiac arrest.

The Korean Dental Association said so-called "dumping dental clinics" — practices that lure patients with unusually low prices — are undermining dental care standards.

The clinic reportedly advertised itself as offering the lowest implant prices in the country, quoting A a per-unit price of 250,000 to 350,000 won ($247). According to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, the median price for an implant at a clinic-level provider is 1.2 million won, meaning the clinic's price was less than one-third the national median.

The clinic is still promoting itself by boasting that it has completed hundreds of thousands of implant procedures and that patients have found a new lease on life.

bbo@heraldcorp.com