Star Tribune
Patient sues Eden Prairie dentist over visit that included eight crowns, four root canals and 20 fillings
A patient is suing her Eden Prairie dentist after he performed eight dental crowns, four root canals and 20 fillings in a single visit, according to a newly-filed malpractice lawsuit.
Kathleen Wilson of Minneapolis says she received negligent treatment from Dr. Kevin Molldrem, of Molldrem Family Dentistry, in July 2020, that caused significant injuries. Her civil action, filed ahead of the holiday weekend in Hennepin County District Court, accuses Molldrem of grossly exceeding the safe dosage of anesthesia and falsifying medical records to show he didn’t give Wilson an unsafe dosage.
It includes a scathing expert opinion from a Florida dentist contending that so much dental work in a single visit is “impossible to achieve if … done properly.”
Molldrem did not respond to messages seeking a response to the accusations. He was served a summons in person at his office at 800 Prairie Center Drive on Dec. 20. Wilson’s attorney, Nathaniel Weimer with the Minneapolis personal injury law firm Tewksbury & Kerfeld, also didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Molldrem’s website says he opened the Eden Prairie office in 2004 “to provide the type of dental care for others as I would want for my own family.” A second location later opened in Lakeville.
Wilson was left with significant injuries that required follow-up care from other providers to repair Molldrem’s negligent work, according to the lawsuit. Beyond medical costs, Wilson said she suffered pain, embarrassment, disfigurement and distress. She is asking for at least $50,000 in damages.
Her legal team retained Dr. Avrum Goldstein, of Naples, Fla., to review her medical records from Molldrem and subsequent providers. Goldstein’s Nov. 14 report identified various duty of care breaches.
According to the report:
Wilson consulted with Molldrem on July 7, 2020. She returned a week later for the procedures under IV sedation and local anesthesia.
The expert noted that Molldrem made the right diagnosis, but said he provided poor-quality treatment. Wilson had decay on “virtually every tooth in her mouth, something that is quite rare,” Goldstein wrote. Molldrem’s attempt to restore all Wilson’s teeth in one visit did nothing to address her susceptibility to disease or the potential of losing teeth, he said.
“Katie required a slow, thoughtful, careful and measured response to her disease. Trying to fill every hole in every tooth in her mouth in one visit is not only the antithesis of what was indicated, it is not humanely possible to achieve in an effective or constructive manner,” Goldstein said, adding that it’s “inconceivable” to address 28 teeth in 5 1⁄2 hours.
One challenge of a long appointment is maintaining adequate anesthesia, Goldstein said. The maximum dosage is 490 mg. Molldrem administered 960 mg to Wilson.
Wilson’s records show that Molldrem said he administered eight tubes of dental anesthetic known as carpules. But Goldstein found the first dose alone was eight carpules, and he administered 15 carpules throughout the visit.
Wilson went to a different dental office for an evaluation showing recurrent decay and other damage. For several months in 2022 she was treated at the University of Minnesota Dental School “for repair and replacement of many of her restorations in an attempt to stabilize her mouth.”
Goldstein said that patients have a “finite capacity for dental treatment” and noted the challenges of dental anxiety. If all of Wilson’s teeth end up having to be removed and replaced with implants, Goldstein said “all of the work that was done and all of the expense associated with it will have been for nothing.”
“This not only impacts the economics of her dental needs, it impacts the emotional trauma associated with extensive dental treatment.”
The lead pastor of Lakes Area Vineyard Church in Detroit Lakes said that a missionary was killed in an act of violence Friday in Angola, Africa.
Beau Shroyer moved there in 2021 with his wife, Jackie, and five children. They were working with the missionary organization SIM USA, founded in 1893 in Charlotte, N.C. SIM USA president Randy Fairman shared in a message to the Lakes Area Vineyard congregation that the Shroyers were one of the first families to move to Angola after pandemic lockdowns eased.
Fairman said many details are still unknown about Shroyer’s death. He said he got a call Friday “informing me that Beau Shroyer was killed while serving Jesus in Angola and is now with his Savior.”
“It is my belief that from his vantage point, he can see how his family will be cared for, and it is not hard for him to trust our good Father,” Fairman wrote. “From our perspective and the perspective of Jackie and the kids, we now must trust Jesus in a season that we never imagined. We must trust Him without requiring Him to give us an understanding of why He allowed this. It is difficult and stretches our faith.”
Troy Easton, lead pastor of Lakes Area Vineyard Church, said in a message to congregants that “Moments like these create so many unanswerable questions for us and it adds to the pain to know that we may never understand why our Father has allowed something like this to happen.”
“As more details became available regarding what’s next for the family, what arrangements are being made to celebrate and honor Beau’s life, and practical ways you can love and serve them, we will be certain to share them with you.
Along with his wife, Shroyer, 44, a former Detroit Lakes police officer and real estate agent, leaves behind children Bella, Avery, Oakley, Iva and Eden.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
This year, its jump-scares and lore landed it on Forbes’ list of “7 of the World’s Scariest Haunted Houses” alongside a 160-room mansion in California filled with “occult oddities,” a house built on an old cemetery near Chicago, and a haunted theme park in New Zealand built on the grounds of an old psychiatric hospital. The Haunted Ship, as the Irvin is known in October, is open just one more night — from 6:30 to 10 p.m. on Halloween.
“But this isn’t just a manufactured scare factory,” according to Forbes’ scare scouts, who reportedly visited the ship and had the VIP experience — which includes controlling the dialogue of a disembodied skull as visitors stream past. “In 1964, a sailor died on the ship during a boiler room accident, prompting the Duluth Paranormal Society to investigate the ship. Employees have reported seeing unexplained shadows, hearing phantom footsteps, and had objects thrown at them while doing maintenance work.”
The pilot house of the William A. Irvin is covered in cobwebs during October, a stop on the VIP tour of the seasonal Haunted Ship. (Jana Hollingsworth / The Minnesota Star Tribune)
The tour twists through the ship’s nooks, crannies and areas specific to its life on the Great Lakes — like a few gruesome dining areas where bloodied limbs are scattered about. There are creepy clowns and Victorian-era beings who stare wordlessly. A sink runs with bloody-colored water and a skeleton sits in a muddied bathtub surrounded by its innards.
The VIP experience offers a chance to roam through the ship’s living quarters alongside an ethereal character in the role of Irvin’s second wife. She sashays through the space with tales from the past, then allows you entry into private spaces where a saw blade rests in a sink and a body meant for the morgue vibrates with electrical waves on a bed. It offers a chance to dip into the pilot house, where wheels and gears are draped in cobwebs, offset in the opposite direction by a fresh perspective on the Aerial Lift Bridge.
The view from the Haunted Ship offers a new perspective on the Aerial Lift Bridge. (Jana Hollingsworth / The Minnesota Star Tribune)
There are countless dark corners for jump scares, strobe lights and tight spaces with hidden exits. There is a place designed to trigger claustrophobia. And there are mind-bending questions: Is that a person in that chair or isn’t it? Who is making that growling-moaning sound? What is that smell?
The final question is answered at the exit of the ship, where there is a running tally of how many people haven’t been able to finish the tour (90 as of Friday night) and how many have wet their pants (35).
How many people have opted out of the Haunted Ship? (Jana Hollingsworth / The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Police said they will be releasing details Monday about the shooting death of a 23-year-old man last week in New Hope.
Carnell Mark Johnson Jr., of Bloomington, was shot in the chest Thursday in the 7300 block of Bass Lake Road and died that same day at North Memorial Health Hospital, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
A police official said more information will be released about the shooting later Monday. No arrests have been announced.
