£9K payout for woman who required hospitalisation after dentist ignored infection

Our client, a 72 year old woman from the West Midlands, has been awarded £9,250 in an out of court settlement after her dentist failed to investigate a severe infection which resulted in hospitalisation.

Mrs U attended her dentist, Mr A, in March 2009 with swelling around a tooth and the bottom right side of her mouth. She told Mr A that she had attended the hospital over the weekend where she had been prescribed antibiotics. Mr A noted that Mrs U did have restricted mouth opening and the tooth was very tender, but chose not to investigate the swelling and simply prescribed another course of antibiotics.

Three days later very concerned about the swelling, Mrs U attended her local hospital again. The doctor noted that she had extensive swelling and a very large dental abscess on the tooth. As a result she was unable to eat solid food, experienced fever and sweating, and had a numb lip. Mrs U had an operation to have the infection drained away and the tooth extracted and remained in hospital for four nights.

After the operation Mrs U had very limited mouth opening for which she underwent physiotherapy to correct. Although still not able to open her mouth properly and unable to eat certain foods, Mrs U is pleased with the claim she brought against Mr A and the damages the Dental Law Partnership helped her win.

Mr A did not admit liability for the negligence.

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