SC woman cracked her molar on a tooth in her sandwich, lawsuit says. It wasn’t her tooth
According to a new lawsuit, a woman cracked her molar on a tooth while eating at a Myrtle Beach McAlister’s Deli restaurant. Allegedly, the tooth wasn’t hers.
“Plaintiff immediately became disgusted and nauseous from seeing a human tooth come out of her mouth and realizing it was in her food,” a lawsuit filed in Horry County on April 16 says.
Kelsey Pearson of Horry County is suing DMAC81 LLC, doing business as McAlister’s Deli, after allegedly biting down on a human baby tooth in her food at the chain’s 1000 S. Commons Road location in South Myrtle Beach.
The source of the alleged tooth is unclear.
“All we know is that it was in there when Kelsey, took it to her table and started eating it,” said attorney Joseph Sandefur, who is representing Pearson in the suit.
Pearson felt immediate jaw pain and cracked her molar after biting into something hard in her sandwich, according to the lawsuit. “Plaintiff experienced nausea, panic, anxiety and significant injuries to her own teeth.”
The lawsuit alleges McAlister’s Deli created and allowed dangerous conditions, failing to inspect and serve food, hire and train knowledgeable employees, exercise care, maintain the premises, follow procedures, warn Pearson of the dangers and remedy dangerous conditions.
As a result, Pearson has suffered damages like medical expenses, physical impairment, mental anguish and loss of enjoyment, the lawsuit says.
She’s seeking unspecified actual and punitive damages, as well as legal costs and any further relief the court deems just.
“It’s the insurance company for DMAC that we’ve been trying to deal with, and they’ve just been impossible,” Sandefur said. “This particular adjuster just refused to do anything about it, denied that it happened ... They accused our client of putting it in there, then they said, ‘It’s not a tooth. It’s an object.’ Finally, we just got so fed up that we had to file the lawsuit.”
McAlister’s Deli did not respond to The Sun News’s request for comment.
This story was originally published April 22, 2025 at 6:00 AM.