MAN TOOK FINAL PICTURE IN DENTIST'S CHAIR BEFORE ROUTINE PROCEDURE TURNED FATAL

Daily Mail

 

Haunting final picture man took in dentist chair before routine procedure turned fatal

By LAURA PARNABY, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER

Published: 16:16 EST, 24 December 2025 | Updated: 18:48 EST, 24 December 2025

 

An Arizona family has finally been given a payout after their son died following a routine dental procedure, hours after he took a photograph in the dentist's chair.

 

Gym junkie Derek Swanson, 40, took a picture of himself beaming alongside the caption: 'Yesterday, new car. Today, implant! Fun never stops.'

 

Swanson was excited to get dental implants, but he never woke up from the operation at Scottsdale Facial and Oral Surgery on March 3, 2023. 

 

'He was so excited,' his mother, Brenda Swanson, who accompanied him to the dentist, told ABC15. 'He had fixed a lot of teeth, and they were looking really nice.'

 

Derek died of a brain injury due to complications of anesthesia administration during the dental procedure, according to the Maricopa County Medical Examiner.

 

His heartbroken parents, Brenda and Bill Swanson, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the dentist, Dr Derek Lamb, and the Scottsdale surgery.

 

This week, they settled for an undisclosed amount, finally bringing them closure.

 

Swanson said that she went with her son to the dental surgery on the fateful day. 

 

'They called Derek back, and that I won't forget. He turned around and he gave me a that wink and said, 'love you,' and he walked back,' she told ABC15.

 

But her son never returned to the waiting room, where Swanson sat with a growing sense that something was wrong.

 

'I just kept waiting and waiting, and Derek wasn't coming out,' she said.

 

Medics at the surgery told Swanson there had been complications, and her son was rushed to the emergency room, where he was put on life support.

 

'This happened on the third of March 2023, and we took Derek off life support on the 10th of March,' Swanson said.

 

The Swansons' lawsuit detailed a list of alleged failings during the anesthesia process which meant Derek did not have enough oxygen, triggering the brain injury.

 

Attorneys for Dr Lamb denied any wrongdoing in court, and said his care did not contribute to Derek's death.

 

Since then, the surgery and the Swansons have agreed on a settlement of an undisclosed amount.

 

The Swansons are also pushing for a change to Arizona law meaning that a dentist and an anesthetist should be legally required for dental surgery.

 

At the moment, dentists can perform surgery while also giving anesthesia, given they have a state permit to do so.

 

'We would like to not have another family go through what we had to go through and are going through and will be for the rest of our life,' Brenda Swanson told ABC15.