Visit to Dentist Ends in Death of Child, 4

A 4-year-old boy who stopped breathing during a routine visit to the dentist Monday died shortly thereafter at a hospital, police said.

Javier Villa of Santa Ana was found to be unconscious at Megdal Dental Care on North Bristol Street about 1 p.m. by a hygienist who noticed saliva coming from the side of his mouth, fire officials said. Office workers immediately began cardiopulmonary resuscitation and continued until paramedics arrived and took over.

“They worked on him over 30 minutes,” Santa Ana Fire Department Battalion Chief John Chambers said. “We still don’t know what happened here.”

Chambers said it is unclear what procedure was being performed or whether there was anesthesia. Initial police reports of a tooth extraction were not confirmed by coroner’s investigators.

Police are handling the case as an accidental death, pending the findings of an autopsy scheduled today.

“He didn’t have any prior medical problems that we know of, but the coroner’s report will tell us for sure,” police Lt. Robert Chavez said.

The child’s father, Javier Villa, who was with dozens of friends and relatives at his home Monday evening, said: “It is a terrible thing what happened. A little boy goes to the dentist and dies. End of story.” He declined to discuss his son’s death further.

Villa had been with the boy at the clinic and had ridden in the ambulance to UCI Medical Center in Orange, officials said.

Philip Megdal, president of the chain of dental clinics, could not be reached for comment late Monday. He issued a statement through his answering service saying he doesn’t know “what happened to Javier.”

“We are at a loss as to why he reacted as he did,” Megdal said.

Experts said Monday that deaths in the dentist’s chair are extremely rare, even if general anesthesia is used. One in 400,000 patients dies of such anesthesia at dentists’ offices; 1 in 12,000 people dies of general anesthesia in hospitals, said Dr. Stanley Malamed, chairman of the anesthesia and medicine section at the USC School of Dentistry.

“If the patient has a congenital heart problem, epilepsy, diabetes or asthma, medical problems that aren’t known or fully understood, it can cause complications,” Malamed said. “But certainly, this is tragic. Children aren’t supposed to go to the dentist and die.”

Times correspondent Jeff Kass contributed to this story.