Comment 2 for bug 667091

Not reproduced with Inkscape 0.48 and 0.48+devel r9854 on OS X 10.5.8:
the font for new text objects can be changed and set in the dropdown list of the text tool controls bar without resorting to using the 'Text and Font' dialog at least once.

Questions:
a) Do you have the font 'Bitstream Vear Sans' installed?
b) Inkscape 0.48 no longer uses 'Bitstream Vera Sans' as default for new text (it's the generic 'Sans' instead). Could you try if the error persists after resetting Inkscape's preferences file?

1) quit Inkscape
2) mv ~/.config/inkscape/preferences.xml ~/.config/inkscape/preferences-old.xml
3) restart Inkscape

or - alternatively, set a new default font:

1) open 'Text > Text and Font…'
2) select 'Sans' in the list of font names
3) click 'Set as default', close dialog
4) restart Inkscape

Does Inkscape still not find any installed fonts from the controls bar initially?