A woman is pushing for change more than five years after her husband’s death following a routine dental procedure.
Shital Patel told WECT in Wilmington she has been trying to pass a law surrounding sedation procedures at dental offices but claims she has been blocked by the state dental board at every turn. Now she is advocating for a new bill that would change the state dental board itself.
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Patel believes the board needs more people with outside perspectives involved and a new process of appointing members.
“My views are stronger than ever now,” Patel said. “You don’t ever walk into a dentist office expecting to come out a widow.”
Patel’s husband, Henry, went to the dentist on July 30, 2020, for a routine procedure to get a tooth put back on. It was supposed to take 20 minutes, but when it took longer, Patel started to get worried.
“He never signed for general anesthesia or deep sedation. Yet, that’s what he was given,” Patel said. “My husband never woke up. My husband died due to over sedation in a dental office due to general anesthesia.”
Patel has been advocating for change. A bill named after her husband, “Henry’s Law,” filed in 2023, would require an anesthesiologist or CRNA to be in the room anytime someone is sedated in a dental office. But advancing that bill has been a challenge.
“We get past one hurdle and something happens where, you know, we get blocked. The dental board is very strong. Their lobby is very strong,” Patel said. “And so we decided, you know what, if they’re not going to change it, we’re going to go through our legislative bodies.”
Patel is trying to push a new bill through the General Assembly that would change the state dental board. As it stands, dentists on the board select and appoint new members.
“The dentists pick active practicing dentists. So they’re self-elected and self-regulating. There’s no other person on that board, which is unlike any board across the country,” Patel said.
The bill would increase the number of people on the state dental board from six to 10. They would be chosen by government officials, like the governor, general assembly and Commissioner of Labor, rather than current members on the board. It would also make sure there are two consumer advocates on the board who are not affiliated with the industry or married to a dentist or dental hygienist.
Patel believes these changes will make sure the board is held more accountable.
“That’s really my only goal is to make sure my husband didn’t die in vain,” Patel said.
Patel says sharing her husband’s story never gets easier, but with each passing day, she grows more confident telling it.
“Every single time that, you get blocked, you get more passionate. You get a little frustrated, but then that feels a greater passion in me to say, ‘Let’s keep going. Let’s keep going cuz we are making changes.’ And we’re not going to stop,” Patel said. “No one should go into a dental office and not come home. Period.”
There have been eight anesthesia-related deaths in North Carolina in the past 13 years, according to the state dental board. However, Patel believes there’s a lack of protocol in reporting dental deaths, and “many of them go unreported.” She said she herself was told her husband died of natural causes before a coroner eventually discovered it was because of over sedation.
You can read the proposed dental reform bill here.