Denture Adhesive Cream Litigation Centralized in Southern District of Florida

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has ordered that all federal denture adhesive cream lawsuits will be consolidated for pretrial litigation before District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga in the Southern District of Florida. All of the lawsuits allege that Super Poligrip or Fixodent caused severe neurological damage from denture cream zinc poisoning.

In an order issued June 9, 2009, the Panel found that centralization of the cases in an MDL, or Multidistrict Litigation, is appropriate due to the common questions of fact involved in the various cases. The panel rejected an argument by Proctor & Gamble, the makers of Fixodent, that individual issues, dental and medical histories, and specific injuries were reason to consider the cases too different to consolidate.

There are currently at least 12 denture cream poisoning lawsuits pending in 11 different districts throughout the United States. Ten of the cases are Super Poligrip lawsuits filed against GlaxoSmithKline and the other two cases are Fixodent lawsuits against Proctor & Gamble.

The cases all allege that the high amounts of zinc contained in Fixodent and Poligrip can be absorbed into the body when large amounts of the denture adhesive cream is used or if it is used over a long period of time. This can cause increased zinc levels in the body and deplete copper, causing a condition known as hypocupremia, which is known to cause significant neurological problems in humans.

Plaintiffs claim to have suffered a variety of injuries from denture adhesive zinc poisoning, including neuropathy, myelopathy, anemia, bone marrow failure, central nervous system deficits and other irreversible neurological injuries. Symptoms of the denture cream problems could include numbness, tingling, pain, weakness, loss of sensation, loss of balance, paralysis or difficulty breathing.

In addition to the Poligrip and Fixodent lawsuits currently pending in federal court, any new cases filed will be transferred to Judge Altonaga, where they will be handled in a coordinated manner during pretrial litigation to avoid duplicative discovery, inconsistent rulings from different judges and to server the convenience of the parties, witnesses, attorneys and the court.