When your nine-year-old returns home from school in tears, you might brace yourself for tales of a failed spelling test or a squabble with a classmate. But when little Oliver Johnson came home sobbing, his mom, Sarah Johnson, was stunned to learn that his school in Baltimore, MD, had extracted three of his teeth without so much as a heads-up. To make matters worse, they sent the third grader home without any pain relief.
It’s baffling how a school can’t find the time to call a parent when they decide to perform oral surgery on their child. “I just don’t understand how they could do something like this,” Sarah expressed in an interview. “I’m furious. This should never have happened.”
At the beginning of the school year, Sarah signed a permission slip for Oliver to receive dental care through a visiting program, believing it would be a simple cleaning—just some scraping and brushing, the usual drill. Even if the consent form mentioned extractions, a quick phone call to inform her would have been appropriate. After all, she had an appointment with their family dentist just days after the school’s dental visit.
Getting one tooth pulled is nerve-wracking, even for adults. But Oliver had to endure the removal of three teeth, all while his mother was left out of the loop. And to add insult to injury, the procedure took so long that he missed the bus home and had to walk a mile, alone, in pain. “He could have fainted,” Sarah lamented. “It’s just reckless.”
While Baltimore City Schools chose not to comment on the incident due to privacy concerns, the dental provider involved claimed they always obtain signed consent before any procedure. “We cannot discuss individual cases due to privacy laws,” a spokesperson for the Oral Health Impact Project stated.
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In summary, while school dental programs can be beneficial for children’s health, there must be clear communication with parents, especially when it involves procedures that can cause pain and require supervision.