The Board remands the claims for further development, including obtaining private treatment records and a VA examination to determine the severity of the Veteran's lumbar spondylitic changes at L4-L5 and lumbar degenerative disc disease, left lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy, and bony deformity of the mandible.
The deciding factor: Remand is necessary due to missing private treatment records and an inadequate medical opinion regarding the severity of the Veteran's service-connected conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- bony deformity of the mandible, status post wisdom tooth removal, to include scars and sore gum, left lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy, lumbar spondylitic changes at L4-L5 and lumbar degenerative disc disease (DDD)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- May 7, 2025
- Citation
- 25006179
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 857 · Granted: 35% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 25006179.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Veteran's left lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy was granted a disability rating of 40 percent, effective June 25, 2024. The decision found that the condition manifested with an incomplete paralysis of the sciatic nerve that was moderately severe.
- Granted
The Board has granted earlier effective dates of February 24, 2023 for the Veteran's 20% ratings for left and right lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy and his entitlement to TDIU.
- Granted
The Board has restored the Veteran's original disability ratings of 40 percent for his right and left lower extremity sciatic nerve radiculopathy, effective April 1, 2021.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection due to a lack of a VA examination, and the need to determine if any identified recurrent lumbar spine disability had its onset during active service or is related to any incident of service. The examiner must also assess whether it is at least as likely as not that any identified recurrent lumbar spine disability is due to or the result of the cervical spine degenerative arthritis and spondylosis and other service-connected disabilities.
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