Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

I will try to state my case as briefly as possible. I am a 19 year-old male with serious dental problems. My teeth are really bad. To be blunt, there is not a single tooth in my mouth without a cavity or some other sort of damage. Every one of my teeth would either need a crown on top or need to be extracted entirely. My dentist even said that it is extremely likely that I would need a full-set of dentures by the time I'm 30. It's that bad.

So how did it get this bad? Well, growing up I had terrible hygiene. I would only take a shower once every other week, and I would pretty much only brush my teeth once every few months. In fact I believe I even went an entire year without brushing my teeth once. My hygiene was pretty this way all throughout my childhood until high school. I believe it became this way because nobody really forced me to take care of my hygiene. My parents did absolutely nothing to correct my hygiene habits, and they failed to instill basic hygiene skills in me when I as very young. There was no punishment waiting for me if I choose not to brush my teeth. Psychologically, if you give a child choice to brush their teeth or to not do it at all, they most likely not do it since it's essentially a chore. That's basically what happened here.

So, my legal question is this: Can I legally sue my parents for negligence and require them to pay a portion of my dental expenses? Do I have viable case against them?


Asked on 7/19/13, 10:35 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
George Shers Law Offices of Georges H. Shers

You had for many years the ability to understand what the likely results would be of your bad habits. I doubt you have a viable case against your parents; eve if you did, I doubt the trier of act would rule in your favor.

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Answered on 7/21/13, 4:22 pm


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