A 14-month-old girl was pronounced dead after a routine cavity filling in Texas on Tuesday, March 29.
Daisy Lynn Torres stopped breathing during the dental procedure and was rushed to the hospital, where she died five hours later. The Texas State Board of Dental Examiners have opened an investigation to determine what exactly happened in the dentist’s chair that day, and autopsy results are still pending.
“This is a tragedy,” said a spokesperson for the dental office, “and we’re just waiting to learn more information from the medical examiner’s office.”
The child’s aunt told local newspaper the Austin American-Statesman, “Daisy was a happy, healthy, baby. She was playing with the family on Easter. She went to the dentist and didn’t come home.”
Mother Betty Squier said that the dentist told her that Daisy needed two fillings. Squier was nervous about the anesthesia, but the dentist said that it was “no big deal,” and that they “do it all of the time.”
Squier received a phone call only five minutes later. “[The dentist] said that the baby had gone into cardiac arrest and her heart stopped beating and the anesthesiologist had to perform CPR,” she said.
A friend of Betty Squier has started a YouCaring fundraiser for the family. On the site she says, “This was completely unexpected and has shattered this family’s world. Daisy’s mom, Betty, would give anyone in need her last dollar and has been my best friend since the 6th grade. My heart is broken for her and my second family.”
Filling a cavity is a routine procedure done in dentist offices every day. As many as 78% of people have a cavity by age 17.
Sadly, this is not the first dentist-related injury or death Texas has seen this year. Last month, 4-year-old Nevaeh Hall suffered major brain damage after a procedure similar to Daisy’s. This case has been under investigation by the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners as well.