STOCKTON, Calif. (WSVN) — Three-year-old Daleyza Avila Hernandez went to the dentist’s office Monday for what was supposed to be a routine procedure. But the little girl never came out.
Araceli Avila said her daughter went in to have two teeth pulled and have caps put on two others.
“All I did was I took my daughter to the dentist because they were going to fix her teeth, and about 30 minutes later they brought her back dead,” Avila told Fox 40.
Avila said she wasn’t allowed inside during the surgery, so she waited in the lobby. That’s when she spotted an ambulance pulling up to Children’s Dental Surgery.
“I stood up and went outside because I was like ‘they are coming for a kid,’ but I never thought it was for my child,” she said.
Moments later, a nurse took her aside and told her something had gone horribly wrong. Her daughter’s heart had stopped; they said that maybe she had underlying heart issues.
Avila disagreed, saying her daughter was “very healthy.”
David Thompson, the administrator at Children’s Dental Surgery Center, told Fox 40 that Daleyza had a reaction to the anesthetics, was stabilized, then sent to the hospital.
“This is not an easy thing to deal with. I’ve been doing this for almost ten years now; I’ve never had a situation like this,” Thompson said. “We’re committed to helping kids every single day. That’s our mission, that’s why we’re here. It’s risky; not everyone wants to do it.”
Thompson said one dentist, an anesthesiologist, and two assistants are present for every surgery, and that parents are told to wait in the lobby in order to keep the room sterile and clean.
Daleyza’s family says they want answers to how a simple dental procedure could go so wrong.
“They haven’t said how she did and what she died of,” Avila said.
The Dental Board of California and Stockton Police Department are investigating, but said at this time the case is not suspicious, nor considered criminal.
The family set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for Daleyza’s funeral expenses.
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