Mother speaks out against local dental office

A mother is speaking out following the death of two children who visited a dental office in Yuma.

Nearly six years later, Elva Aranda is sharing her experience at Kool Smiles, who claims her daughter was being choked by a dental assistant in Summer 2012.

“It was a horrible experience, a horrible experience because when you see someone else hurting your child, you feel helpless,” said Aranda.

Aranda says while her daughter was getting her regular checkup, the dental assistant was acting aggressively towards her daughter during the procedure. She claims the dental assistant was adding pressure to her daughter’s neck as if she was choking her without realizing it.

“You know the suction tool, she started putting that into my daughter’s mouth, and that was making her “gag”. I’m here looking at my daughter, and I’m seeing her gag because that tool was shoved in her mouth and I started comforting here saying “it’s okay, you’re going to be okay” but I did not see that this lady had her whole hand shoved into my daughter’s neck choking her.”

Aranda quickly reacted and stopped the procedure from continuing and reported the incident to the management at the office.

“She took my pictures, she took my information, and she looked at me and said “We’re going to take care of it” and I didn’t hear from them and that’s what upset me.”

With the recent deaths uncovered last week of 4-year-old Lizeth Lares and 2-year-old Zion Gastelum linked to Kool Smiles within the last two years, Aranda feels the need to share her story hoping others will come forward.

“I feel I owe it, to Zion and Lizeth, for not doing what a mother would do, for not doing what I would’ve done and I trusted the management when they said they would take care of it, and no.” Kool Smiles did respond in a statement saying, “Kool Smiles records show that we have not treated this patient since 2010 and there is no record of a complaint through March 2011. Due to the length of time that has passed, we are researching whether a formal complaint was ever filed. Kool Smiles is proud of the compassionate, quality care we provide each and every day for our patients. Surveys of Kool Smiles patients indicate that 96% would refer a family member or friend to Kool Smiles. ”
Aranda has responded to this statement in shock and disbelief and questions the management if they’re reporting incidents that occur in their office. If you have any information or have any tips regarding, feel free to contact dallis.ontiveros@kecytv.com To follow up on Zion click here

To follow up on Lizeth click here