A Bend high school teacher battling cancer is suing two local dental offices for more than $20 million for failing to identify the disease over numerous appointments.

According to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Deschutes County Circuit Court, Christopher Shunk was a patient of Redmond’s Advantage Dental from April 2018 until May 2019, and of Central Oregon Dental Clinic in Bend from May 2019 until March 2020. In that time, he regularly noted a sore on his tongue that worsened over time, he says in the suit.

Shunk now claims negligence and medical malpractice by the staff of the two dental offices.

“As a result of the almost two-and-a-half-year delay in diagnosis and treatment of his tongue cancer, Mr. Shunk now suffers from stage III cancer which renders his prognosis poor,” the lawsuit reads. “As a result of the delayed diagnosis, the survival rate for Mr. Shunk’s cancer is low. If his cancer had been diagnosed and treated earlier his survival rate would have been excellent.”

Shunk, 38, teaches math at Summit High School and coaches cross-country and track. The lawsuit states he learned shortly after his diagnosis that his wife is pregnant with their first child.

The lawsuit seeks $20.9 million on behalf of Shunk and $7 million on behalf of his wife, Chelsea.

The suit names Dr. Sean Sherry and Dr. Richard Ashton of Advantage Dental and Dr. Michael Hall of Central Oregon Dental Clinic.

It also names several dental hygienists, technicians and assistants who provided treatment to Shunk between 2018 and his cancer diagnosis in 2020.

“Dentists and dental hygienists have a duty to screen for oral cancers, and dentists have a duty to timely refer their patients to other medical professionals for diagnosis, follow-up and treatment of oral cancers,” the lawsuit states.

Calls left at both offices were not returned.

At his initial visit to Advantage, Shunk noted a sore on his tongue that was causing him irritation. The dentist discussed with Shunk rounding a tooth to relieve the sore spot on Shunk’s tongue. But it wasn’t until October 2020 — his ninth dental appointment since first complaining of the sore on his tongue — that Hall of Central Oregon Dental Clinic referred Shunk to an oral surgeon to examine the lesion on his tongue, the lawsuit states.

In December of that year, biopsy results showed Shunk had stage III squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue. To treat the cancer, Shunk has undergone radiation and the removal of 3/4 of his tongue and reconstruction of his tongue using skin from his arm. Shunk’s lawsuit states he wouldn’t have needed to take those measures had the disease been caught sooner.