Georgette Watson, 46, was the principal of a Chicago middle school. Monday she went in for what should have been a routine root canal procedure.
Today an autopsy is scheduled to determine why she died in the dentist’s chair.
Watson reportedly went into cardiac arrest while in the offices of Feldman and Feldman, a Lakeview dentist. It is unclear which dentist was performing the root canal. She had been given a sedative before the procedure but news reports are not specific as to whether it was a local anesthetic or she was unconscious.
Back in July, Joseph David Feldman and Lawrence W. Feldman were put on probation by the state Department of Financial and Professional Regulation “due to substandard dental work and failure to maintain records.”
Despite that, the office is allowed to function allegedly monitored by the state compliance unit to make sure the nature of the alleged violation is corrected.
Watson was principal of Brentano Math and Science Academy, a K through 8th grade school located in Logan Square. On the school website Watson wrote-
"At Brentano, we prepare our students to become the leaders of tomorrow. It is my belief that by working together, we can guide our children to become lifelong learners."
The well liked teacher was known to help everyone she encountered. Clerk Ilene Morris told IB News that “a crisis intervention team is here, the chief executive officer. We’re just trying to keep it under control. We’re still in shock.”
Local station, CBS2Chicago has the story.
Death in the dental chair is reported to be an unusual event, usually due to anesthesia.
In the 2001 book, Forensic Pathology by Vincent J.M. DiMaio says stress, fear and pain coupled with anesthesia can precipitate a heart attack. One of the most common causes of death in a dental chair is an overdose of a general anesthesia that causes unconsciousness.
Out of 120 cases profiled in the book, 100 deaths in the dental chair were due to general anesthetic or that coupled with a pre-existing condition.
The Independent newspaper in London reported that in 1999 a five-year-old boy died because he had a rare heart muscle disorder that contributed to his heart attack in the dental chair.
The British Journal of Anaesthesia reports in 1998 that all inhalation anesthetics lower the threshold for arrhythmias, an irregular beating of the heart.
Conscious sedation, using laughing gas is thought to relieve most dental anxiety as an alternative to general anesthesia.
Consumers should visit their state Department of Professional Regulation online to check the professional standing of their dentist.