Vadim Kondratyuk (26)  left his home in Sacramento CA on January 17 to head out to New York for his truck driving job. He was suffering from tooth pain as he left California. On the return trip, his brother came along for the ride. When Kondratyuk found the tooth pain to be more than he could bear, the two stopped at a hospital in Utah.

 

Doctors at the hospital found that the infection had spread to his lungs and blood. Kondratyuk’s wife, Nataliya, expressed incredulity that a tooth infection meant the loss of her husband and her two kids’ father.  She said the doctors called her and told her that her husband would die that evening because there was nothing they could do to stop the infection.

 

Dentists say tooth infections can be warded away by regular dental checkups and oral hygiene. A toothache should be cause for seeking immediate medical attention. A GoFund petition has raised $235,00 so far for the family's expenses.