SAN DIEGO — The death of a 9-year-old girl hours after she had dental surgery at a Vista office last month has been added to an account of events by the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.
According to early reports, the young patient was given anesthesia and had dental surgery on March 18 at Dreamtime Dentistry in Vista.
SDPD said she was then moved to a resting room after the surgery and later sent home from the hospital.
Wednesday, the medical examiner’s office explained what they had said before about the case. They now say that the girl fell asleep on her way home from work.
The police said she was still asleep when she got home and was moved to her bed, where her family checked on her all day.
The girl’s family called 911 when they found her in bed not responding, the medical examiner’s report said.
While taking the girl to the Rady Children’s Hospital Emergency Department, paramedics tried to save her life, but she was later declared dead.
The San Diego Police Department told FOX 5/KUSI on Wednesday that the investigation is being run by the department’s Child Abuse Unit.
An official at Dreamtime Dentistry had already released a statement about the incident from her dentist and anesthesiologist, Dr. Ryan Watkins. It said, in part, “We are deeply saddened by the tragic death of our young patient, which occurred several hours after her completed dental procedure.”
According to the statement, she was sent home to be cared for by her mother after the treatment in stable condition, which meant she was awake, her vital signs were stable, and her protective reflexes were still working.
These are the full words from the dentist’s office.
In the medical examiner’s report, the reason of death was written as “pending” and the manner of death was written as “pending investigation.”
