• A man in his 30’s from The North East will lose a tooth after his dentists failed to spot and treat decay.
• A piece of dental equipment had been left in his tooth after a root canal treatment, this caused him intense pain and he was unable to chew.
• £4000 awarded in compensation
Mr O, a man from the North East has been awarded £4,000 in compensation from his local dentists with the help of specialist dental negligence solicitors the Dental Law Partnership. Mr O suffered from severe sensitivity and pain and had an avoidable root canal treatment tanks to his dentist’s poor treatment.
In 2015 our client Mr O attended an appointment with his dentist Dr P complaining of a broken filling.
During this appointment 2 x-rays were taken but no further treatment was offered to our client.
“I continued to experience some discomfort on and off especially to hot and cold foods so I just assumed it was sensitivity, I continued to attend regular appointments with my dentist Dr P so I trusted I was in good hands.”
7 Months after the initial appointment Mr O had begun to experience more intense pain and discomfort in his mouth so he decided to make an appointment.
Our client saw another dentist Dr N who diagnosed tooth decay and advised our client would need a filling.
“I was a bit concerned about the tooth decay because my other dentist had never mentioned it before, but I assumed the next appointment and treatment would be the end of it.”
The appointment was attended a month later for a filling and then no further treatment was scheduled.
But soon after, Mr O’s problems only got worse when his pain intensified.
“I was feeling extreme pain when I was eating anything hot or cold and when I was chewing”
Two months after receiving the filling our client attended an emergency appointment with Dr N again. His dentist advised that our client required root canal treatment and so the procedure was carried out the next day.
But Mr O’s pain did not subside and eventually got significantly worse to the point he could not even chew his food and had trouble talking.
“I just knew something must have gone wrong with the root canal treatment as I was in much more pain than before. After being in pain for 5 months I decided to make another appointment to see a new dentist.”
Mr O saw a new dentist and he was shocked to find out that both his previous dentists had failed to use reasonable care and skill at treating our clients tooth decay which would result in the avoidable future loss of his tooth. He also learnt that Dr N had left a piece of dental equipment in the treated tooth during the root canal procedure which had been performed at a poor quality. This had allowed the decay to worsen and it was all causing the intense pain he had experienced.
“I was shocked and upset I had been neglected so badly by both dentists, I have gone through an unnecessary root canal treatment and I had taken daily pain killers to combat the pain. I have been told I will lose the tooth in the future and I will need implant replacement”
Mr O contracted the Dental Law Partnership. Analysis of his dental records revealed that Dr P and Dr N had consistently failed to diagnose and treat tooth decay between 2015 and 2018. Dr N had left surgical equipment in our clients tooth after a poorly performed root canal treatment. All this led to the never ending problems Mr O experienced and to him losing his tooth in the future.
Rebecca McVety of the Dental Law Partnership commented: “The distress and pain our client experienced was completely unnecessary. If the dentists had carried out adequate treatment in the first place, all his problems could have been avoided.”
The Dental Law Partnership took on Mr O’s case in 2019. The case was successfully settled in 2020 when the dentists paid £4000 in an out of court settlement. The dentists did not admit liability.
