• 57-year-old Paul Havers lost a tooth after his dentist consistently failed to spot and treat decay
• He has suffered from excruciating toothache and has had to undergo avoidable root canal treatment as a result
• £6,000 awarded in compensation
Mr Paul Havers, a 57-year-old driver from Sandhurst, Berkshire has been awarded £6,000 in compensation from his local dentist with the help of specialist dental negligence solicitors the Dental Law Partnership. Mr Havers lost a tooth and suffered from excruciating toothache after his dentist failed to spot and treat decay. He also had avoidable root canal treatment and will need an implant to fill the gap left in his mouth.
Mr Havers visited Dr Niall Hutchinson of Confidental, Sandhurst between August 2001 and December 2015.
“I visited Dr Hutchinson for regular check-ups,” Mr Havers said. “But I didn’t have any noticeable problems with my teeth until March 2015, when he placed a filling. I remember the drilling seemed to go on for a long time, but the pain became really bad when I left the dental practice.
“That night I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t even rest on that side of my face. The pain persisted so I had to go back to Dr Hutchinson. He performed root canal treatment in an effort to stop the pain,” Mr Havers continued.
But even after the root canal treatment, Mr Havers toothache persisted. Another filling was placed at the tooth in June 2015, but that still didn’t help. And by July he was back in the dentist’s chair again complaining of pain.
“I had been eating in the canteen at work when suddenly I had terrible toothache,” Mr Havers said. “I went to see Dr Hutchinson yet again, and this time he prescribed antibiotics.
“I had two more appointments that year and was still complaining about toothache, but Dr Hutchinson didn’t offer any treatment. Fed-up, I finally saw a different dentist at the beginning of 2016, who immediately said my tooth was in a bad way and referred me to a specialist. The specialist said my tooth needed to be extracted. I was shocked to be told this. I’d seen Dr Hutchinson and complained about the tooth so many times. But he’d done nothing.”
Mr Havers contacted the Dental Law Partnership. Analysis of his dental records revealed Dr Hutchinson had failed to diagnose and treat decay. The root canal treatment he performed was also avoidable. The tooth could have been restored with a filling. The dentist’s poor treatment led to the loss of Mr Havers’ tooth and the excruciating toothache he suffered.
“While I was suffering from toothache I was constantly on painkillers,” Mr Havers said. “It was awful. When the specialist told me I’d have to have my tooth extracted I couldn’t believe it. I complained so many times to Dr Hutchinson but in vain. Now the tooth is gone.”
Kyle Padley of the Dental Law Partnership commented: “The distress and pain our client experienced was completely unnecessary. If the dentist had carried out adequate treatment in the first place, all his problems could have been avoided.”
The Dental Law Partnership took on Mr Havers’ case in 2018. The case was successfully settled in 2019 when the dentist paid £6,000 in an out of court settlement. The dentist did not admit liability.
