• 32-year-old Jennifer Taylor lost a tooth after her dentist botched her root canal treatment
• She also suffered severe pain and swelling after contracting an infection at that tooth
• £8,700 awarded in compensation
Mrs Jennifer Taylor, a 32-year-old higher level teaching assistant from Blaby, Leicestershire, has been awarded £8,700 in compensation from her local dentist with the help of specialist dental negligence solicitors, the Dental Law Partnership.
Mrs Taylor visited Dr Sushma Gandla at Total Dental Care Saffron Lane Leicester between November 2011 and October 2015.
“I had attended that practice for years,” Mrs Taylor said. “I had never had any issues, so I assumed it would be the same with Dr Gandla.”
Mrs Taylor visited Dr Gandla for check-ups in 2011 and 2013, but in September 2015 she suddenly began to experience pain at one of her teeth.
“The pain was horrendous,” Mrs Taylor recalled. “It came on so quickly and it was total agony. I didn’t know why because I’d never had any problems like this before. I made an appointment to go and see Dr Gandla who began root canal treatment at my tooth right away.”
Over another three sittings Dr Gandla continued root canal treatment at Mrs Taylor’s problem tooth, the last of which was in October.
“I had my first child later that month in October,” Mrs Taylor said. “I obviously wanted the pain from my tooth sorted out before I went in to labour with my daughter, and by the end of the fourth sitting I thought that the tooth felt ok again.”
But a year later, Mrs Taylor’s pain returned. Her face swelled up and she couldn’t eat on one side of her mouth so she had to make another appointment with the dentist. This time she didn’t see Dr Gandla.
“I went in to see a different dentist who told me that I would need another round of root canal treatment with a specialist or the tooth would have to be extracted. I couldn’t believe it,” Mrs Taylor went on to say.
Mrs Taylor then went on to have the tooth extracted in 2017.
Mrs Taylor contacted the Dental Law Partnership. Analysis of her dental records revealed that Dr Gandla had failed to use reasonable skill and care during the root canal treatment and had perforated the root. This led to the extraction of the tooth as well as the severe infection she contracted which caused her swelling and intense pain. She will need an implant to fill the gap in future.
“I live with a gap now,” Mrs Taylor said. “Having the gap has knocked my confidence to be honest. I have quite a wide smile and now I’m self-conscious about it I don’t smile as often. Because of my job I’m very conscious in front of the children too. I’m even conscious in front of my daughter. She’s two now and I don’t want her to notice the gap. I don’t want to have an implant but that’s what I need to replace the tooth so I’ve got to face it.”
Amanda Pietrusiak of the Dental Law Partnership commented: “The distress and pain our client experienced was completely avoidable. If the dentist had carried out appropriate treatment her problems would have been avoided.”
The Dental Law Partnership took on Mrs Taylor’s case in 2016. The case was successfully settled in 2019 when the dentist paid £8,700 in an out of court settlement. The dentist did not admit liability.
