Talented teenage musician dies three days after having wisdom teeth taken out in routine surgery
- Parents of Benjamin LaMontagne believe complications from operation may have caused death
- 18-year-old clarinet player had been awarded scholarship to music college
By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 13:43 EST, 26 February 2014 | UPDATED: 17:57 EST, 26 February 2014
A talented high school musician has died suddenly in Maine, just three days after having surgery to remove impacted wisdom teeth.
Benjamin Edward LaMontagne died in his mother’s arms in the early hours of Saturday after his condition started to deteriorate after the routine procedure.
A cause of death for the 18-year-old has not been determined yet, but his parents, Peter and Lynn, believe it was caused by surgery complications.
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Loss: Benjamin LaMontagne was an honors student at Cheverus High School
After his surgery on February 19, Benjamin had been experiencing the expected pain and swelling caused by wisdom tooth extraction.
If his death is found to have been caused by surgery complications, it would be a rare occurrence, according to dentists.
Dr Thomas Dodson said that in 20 years of surveys at the Massachusetts hospital he used to work at, not a single death was recorded in patients who had wisdom teeth extracted.
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The dentist, who is chair of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle, had not reviewed Benjamin’s case but has decades of experience.
‘I’m trained as an epidemiologist, and I can’t say I’ve even ever read [about a death] anywhere,’ he told the Portland Press Herald.
The Long Island community where Benjamin’s family live has been left reeling by the unexpected death of the honors student who had been accepted at Pennsylvania’s Sunderman Conservatory of Music.
The teenager, who played bass clarinet and enjoyed jazz, was a dedicated student who also enjoyed sailing and lobster fishing.
‘If anybody could say they had a complete life after 18 short years, it was Benjamin, which makes it all the more painful to have him taken from us so soon,’ Mr LaMontagne told the Portland Press Herald.
His school friend Christian Cilley, who would often busk with Benjamin in town, said: ‘The best part about him was that he did his own thing, he went his own way.’
The 18-year-old fished for lobsters from his skiff and over the summer had worked on a lobster boat. But music was his main passion, and he was one of only two students to have received the merit scholarship for Sunderman Conservatory.
Music teacher Julia Frothingham, who taught Benjamin bass clarinet for six years at Chevrus High School, said: ‘I know he’s not my son, but I feel like I watched him grow up. I’ll miss not being able to see where he goes from here.’
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