What the panel ordered
Petition for Reconsideration is DENIED.
Petition for Reconsideration filed by lien claimant The Dental Trauma Center was denied by the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board panel, which adopted and incorporated the WCJ's report recommending denial.
What was disputed, and how it came out
Each issue the panel decided, with the reasoning it gave. An outcome is what this panel did on this record — not a rule, and not a prediction.
LiensDefendant prevailedteeth · jaw · sleep disorder
The lien claimant's medical opinion on compensable consequences was not incorporated by the primary treating physician, so the court could not rely on it to find compensability for dental and sleep disorder claims.
From the decision · page 6In this case, Petitioner treated Applicant for a dental condition and associated sleep disorder (in the form of obstructed upper airway). The Findings and Award of 3/30/15 does not reference any dental condition or sleep disorder. There was no Petition to Reopen the 3/30/15 Findings and Award. Thus for Petitioner's medical treatment services to be potentially compensable, it had to be established that the dental condition and sleep disorder were compensable consequence of the industrial orthopedic cumulative trauma injury. Petitioner's opinion was tantamount to declaring that the dental condition and sleep disorder were compensable consequences of the orthopedic injury. But in order for such an opinion to be relied upon by the Court, it must be established that said opinion was made by the primary treating physician or incorporated by the primary treating physician. Neither of those conditions were met here.