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Dental patient wins £24,000 for untreated decay and damaged sinus
Our client, a 39 year old woman from the South of England, was awarded £24,000 in an out of court settlement after her dentist’s substandard treatment resulted in the loss of 3 teeth, repeat treatment and damaged sinus.
Miss L was 29 when she first attended her dentist Dr W, for a routine check up. Between 2002 and 2008 she attended every six months for routine appointments, scale and polishes, and fillings.
In August 2008 Dr W fitted a crown to one of Miss L’s upper teeth. After the treatment, Miss L was left in a lot of pain which kept her awake at night. The following month she went back to Dr W to have the tooth next to the one which had just been crowned, extracted. During the procedure, Dr W actually damaged the crowned tooth and the crown fell off. In addition, while Dr W was getting the roots out of the tooth socket, a fragment of tooth root became lodged in her sinus.
A few days after the treatment Miss L was in such pain that she had to attend her local A&E. She was also concerned that she had a constant runny nose. Upon attendance of A&E an x ray was taken confirming that there was a tooth root dislodged in the sinus which was causing the constant discharge from her nose. The hospital referred Miss L to the Oral Surgery department to have the misplaced root extracted.
It was when Miss L attended the hospital to have the root extracted from the sinus, that she was informed that there was also untreated tooth decay on 3 of her other teeth. Upon hearing the news she decided to change dentists and began a treatment plan to fix the problem.
As a result of Dr W’s failure to provide satisfactory treatment at the decayed teeth, Miss L lost two teeth and will lose another in the future, all of which will require implant treatment to replace. She also had to undergo further filings to treat the decay on the other teeth. Miss L was informed that had Dr W properly assessed the extracted tooth prior to extraction, she would have avoided the treatment to remove the fragment of tooth from the sinus.
Dr W neither admitted nor denied liability but the Dental Law Partnership was able to achieve a successful outcome on behalf of Miss L and she was awarded £24,000 to correct the blunder. Miss L said, “I am very pleased with the outcome, I never thought I would have to sue my dentist but at least I have redress for the dental problems I suffered”.