• 29-year-old Woman was fitted with a bridge that will have to be replaced twice
• She suffered an agonising infection at one of her teeth and she will lose the tooth in future
• £15,000 awarded in compensation
A 29-year-old woman from the North West, has accepted £15,000 in compensation from her local dentist with the help of specialist dental negligence solicitors the Dental Law Partnership. The dentist fitted Miss B with a bridge that was too big and discoloured and had to be replaced. She also received root canal treatment at one of her teeth that was then used to fix the bridge to and will now be lost in future. The tooth became infected and Miss B’s smile now droops on the right hand side.
Miss B visited her dentist between May 2016 and September 2017.
“Some of my teeth never came through so I had a bridge to fill the gap,” Miss B said. “It had lasted well, and much longer than I was initially told, but it was coming loose so I went to see Dr I to see if he could fix it.”
The dentist informed Miss B that her bridge would need replacing, so she returned the next month to undergo preparation and have a new bridge fitted.
“I didn’t like the look of it straight away,” Miss B said. “One of the teeth at the front was far too long, so I went back to complain. The dentist adjusted it a bit, but I still wasn’t happy so had to return again to complain the following month. I wanted the teeth to match my natural ones, so he said he would replace it.”
Miss B had her teeth prepared for another bridge to be fitted, which was done mid-September 2016.
But a year later, while on holiday in Greece, Miss B began to experience awful toothache at one of the teeth the bridge was attached to.
“It was so painful. I was in agony. My face was so swollen, I could barely recognise myself,” Miss B recalled. “The swelling was all the way up to under my eye. By the time I got home it was the weekend so I couldn’t just walk in and see my dentist. I had to make an emergency appointment.”
Miss B was given antibiotics to treat her pain but it was so bad she had to return to the emergency dentist again two days later. This time they tried to treat the swelling by cutting into her gum to relieve the pressure but it didn’t work.
She then saw a different dentist who immediately told her that she required root canal treatment to address an infection at her tooth.
In 2018 Miss B visited a new dental practice as she was still dissatisfied with the bridge. Her new dentist explained that one side of the bridge was longer than the other and it didn’t fit properly.
Miss B contacted the Dental Law Partnership. Analysis of her dental records revealed that Dr I had failed to use reasonable skill and care in the provision of Miss B’s bridgework. He attached the bridge to a tooth that wasn’t suitable which led to Miss B suffering from painful infection and the future loss of the tooth. She will now have to have a new bridge.
“I had to have time off work because of the pain,” Miss B said. “It was unbearable. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep and I felt sick. It ruined my holiday. I still have a bridge I am unhappy with at the end of it all, which will have to be replaced again. It’s unbelievable.”
Tyla Westhead of the Dental Law Partnership commented: “The distress and pain our client has experienced was completely avoidable. If the dentist had carried out adequate treatment in the first place, her problems and the loss of her tooth could have been prevented.”
The Dental Law Partnership took on Miss B’s case in 2017. The case was successfully settled in 2019 when the dentist paid £15,000 in an out of court settlement. The dentist did not admit liability.
