Health NZ has been asked to apologise after doctors missed their best opportunity to reattach a 14-year-old's teeth following a bike accident.
The boy was riding his bicycle and crashed into a parked car, which broke five of his teeth and caused internal bleeding in his head.
He was taken to hospital and monitored, but the oral surgery department said the damage to his teeth did not need urgent care, as it had already been five hours since the accident, and the ideal timeframe for reattaching the teeth was just 60 minutes.
They advised him to visit a dentist the next day.
When the boy's father made an appointment with a private surgeon, they said the teeth could have been successfully re-implanted within 24 hours of the accident as the detached teeth had been stored in milk.
The 14-year-old's teeth were then re-implanted with braces to keep them in place, but the surgeon noted they were much less likely to "take", or heal properly.
"The delay meant that it was almost certain that the teeth would subsequently be lost due to resorption of the roots, they would, in the meantime, maintain bones around them so that implant treatment could be considered once the teeth have been lost, and at the end of growth," the doctor was quoted in the Health and Disability Commissioner's report.
The Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner recommended that Health NZ provide a written apology. Health NZ also updated its dental trauma policy.
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