Coroner Finishes Probe of Dental Death

A coroner’s investigation into the Aug. 4 death of a 4-year-old Santa Ana boy after he passed out at a dental clinic has concluded, but police said Monday that it was too early to say whether it will prompt criminal charges.

The results of toxicological tests on the body of Javier Villa were forwarded Monday to Santa Ana police, but detectives on the case “aren’t going to comment until they go over it with a fine-tooth comb,” Lt. Bob Chavez said Monday evening.

Villa died at a hospital a short time after a dental hygienist at Megdal Dental Care on Bristol Street in Santa Ana realized that he was unconscious and not breathing, according to police. Villa was at the office, since renamed Dental Care Inc., to have eight cavities filled.

The supervising dentist and other employees present gave conflicting reports to investigators about the amount of sedatives the boy was given, according to court documents.

Witnesses also told police that the supervising dentist, Dr. Miguel Garcia, altered records and destroyed the boy’s chart, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in Municipal Court.

The affidavit also quotes a dental expert who, after reviewing the case, found the dentists “were incompetent and grossly negligent in sedating and monitoring the boy.”

The dentists and their attorneys could not be reached for comment Monday, but they have denied any wrongdoing in the case.

Lt. Tom Garner, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, announced the completion of the coroner’s tests but said he didn’t know what the report found. Coroner officials referred all calls to Garner and Santa Ana police.

Jeff Wall, chief of enforcement for the state Board of Dental Examiners, said his agency’s investigators were unaware Monday of any determination of a cause of death in the case. A state probe of the death and other issues involving the clinic are continuing.

The boy’s family was frustrated Monday that they could not get any information about the report or even a return phone call from authorities.

“I’m so desperate,” said Javier Villa, the boy’s 27-year-old father. “They don’t give me anything, they’re not telling me anything. They said the results would come today. I called this morning and they told me they would call me back, but they didn’t.”