A North Carolina woman may have bitten off more than she could chew when she said a dentist, whose practice is part of an Alpharetta-based chain, misdiagnosed her.
Now, the dentist's firm, Spelios and Associates, of Cary, N.C., has filed a slander and libel suit against the woman, Lorna Dewalle.
The suit, filed in North Carolina on April 15, follows a March 28 story published in The News & Observer of Raleigh and an accompanying blog on that newspaper's Web site detailing her claims the firm wanted her to undergo an unnecessary procedure.
The suit seeks $10,000 in compensatory damages, unspecified punitive damages and attorneys' fees and court costs. In it, the plaintiffs allege several patients canceled their appointments and cited the story as the reason for doing so.
Dewalle, who also is of Cary, initially visited the dentist Jan. 15 and subsequently filed a complaint with the North Carolina Dental Society in early March after Spelios and Associates denied her request to reverse its charges to her insurance firm for X-rays and an examination.
Dewalle declined comment Tuesday, citing pending litigation. She referred calls for comment to her Durham attorney, William Mills. He said he is reviewing the case and will file an answer soon with the court and declined further comment.
Spelios and Associates' parent company, Dental Health Associates of Alpharetta, which has offices in Georgia, North Carolina and Florida, also declined comment, citing the lawsuit.
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