SEATTLE, July 24 (UPI) -- A University of Washington student became the fifth person in the past three years to die from complications related to oral surgery, a state official said.
The King County medical examiner said Mikhail Manyak, a computer engineering student, died Sunday following an allergic reaction to post-surgery medications, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Wednesday.
A practitioner has 30 days, by law, to report a death or hospitalization related to a dental procedure. The death hasn't been reported to the state, the newspaper said.
Manyak died after experiencing a loss of oxygen to his brain related to the allergic reaction, the King County Medical Examiner's Office said.
The state dental board will meet Friday to consider whether to enact a policy of mandatory death investigations, Taylor Stair, disciplinary manager for the health department's Quality Assurance Division, told the Post-Intelligencer. The board has been criticized for its performance on to inquiries involving deaths or injuries.
The latest dental death is the fifth known occurrence in three years. However, the state relies on dentists to report the deaths and it's not known how many go unreported.
