John J Mennitt DDS

On two previous occasions over the years, Dr. Mennitt extracted two upper wisdom teeth, each of which was a seamless in/​out procedure. Based upon those experiences, I would not have thought that a return visit to have the bottom two wisdoms extracted would be a nightmare. Dr. Mennitt failed to keep me fully sedated under general anesthesia such that I became fully mentally aware during the sewing of my gums. As much as the anesthesia would allow, I physically struggled to let him know that I was in great distress, and I also attempted to the best of my ability to say three times «it hurts» all the while trying to move my mouth away from the source of excruciating pain. Mennitt kept on sewing. Apparently during my struggle I bit the inside of my lower lip which was pointed out to me by his assistant when I came to. Apparently, being unable to access my mouth at this point, further sedation was rendered as I was again put back out. I do not use Novocain relative to issues of a history of abuse. I was not asked to update my medical info even though it had been over 2 yrs. since my last appt. While Dr. Mennitt was inserting the drug line into my hand and while applying the drug (s) to anesthetize me, he was not wearing gloves; the same held true for his assistant when she reached into my mouth to remove the blood soaked gauze at the end of the procedure. While I was awake, I saw no one in the room use a mask, and I can only hope these items were employed during the oral surgery. Clearly, there was a failure to follow standard of care infection control protocol. There was no way anyone who was present in the room during the surgery would not have known I was in extreme distress. Based on his online bio & decades of experience, never would I have expected this to occur. Unbelievable to me was that Dr. Mennitt showed not a modicum of decency to approach me after the surgery to discuss what had happened. During the 3 appts., the only time I’ve ever seen Dr. Mennitt was before the surgeries, never after. During the two prior surgeries, unlike this one, Dr. Mennitt did not deliver the anesthetic. There was no charge on the bill for general anesthesia unlike the previous bills. Mennitt has a petulant demeanor and his communication skills are wanting. Realizing that I had never exercised due diligence in investigating Dr. Mennitt’s online records, I searched the Maryland Judiciary Case Search database. I discussed with my general dentist who referred me to Dr. Mennitt the records under his name. Had I been aware of those records at the time of the initial referral, I would not have used his services.