An Oregon man is suing his dentist for $6,600,000 in medical malpractice damages after he lost part of his tongue and suffered the effects of advanced cancer that was allegedly misidentified in 2013.

In his complaint to the court, Jude Torres said he was a regular patient of Dr. Charles Aoto at Southern Oregon Dental's Central Point offices and pointed out some discoloration on his tongue at one of his regular appointments in 2013.

Aoto then reportedly biopsied the discolored part of the tongue at this appointment and sent it to the lab. Torres said Aoto told him the biopsy came back negative for cancer.

Aoto communicated this 'good news' to the plaintiff and assured him there was nothing to worry about," stated Torres' complaint in court documents.

Between 2013 and 2020, the complaint alleges that Torres came back to Aoto for six-month checkups, but the discoloration on his tongue did not go away.

In August 2020, the discoloration erupted into an open sore, the complaint says, and Torres tried to make an appointment with Southern Oregon Dental, only to find that the Central Point location had closed. Torres then went to Open Door Family Dentistry in Medford, which immediately referred him to an oral surgeon that did a biopsy revealing Torres had an advanced squama cell carcinoma.

Torres was treated for his cancer at the Oregon Health and Sciences University, where he learned that in order to save his life, surgeons would need to remove the right half of his tongue and replace it with tissue harvested from his right forearm. During Torres' surgery on September 21, 68 lymph nodes were taken from his neck, along with the removal and reconstruction of part of his tongue.

KTVL reached out to Southern Oregon Dental and has not heard back ahead of publication. If KTVL receives a response, this story will be updated to reflect that.