LOCAL MAN LOSES THREE TEETH AFTER DENTIST FAILS TO TREAT DECAY

• 33-year-old Mr Jakub Terefenko from Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, loses three teeth after local dentist fails to treat decay and chronic infection
• Mr Terefenko’s face swelled-up making it difficult for him to eat
• £20,000 received in compensation

Mr Jakub Terefenko, a 33-year-old IT machinist operator from Nottingham has won £20,000 in compensation from his local dentist with the help of specialist dental negligence solicitors, the Dental Law Partnership. The dentist’s failure to treat decay led to Mr Terefenko developing chronic infection, seeing his face swell-up, and losing three teeth.

Mr Terefenko was a regular patient of Dr Mihai-Dorian Margineanu of 7 Dental dental practice in Hyson Green Nottingham, and always believed he was in safe hands. However, problems started to materialise in late 2009 when the dentist extracted one of his teeth.

“I remember thinking it was strange,” Mr Terefenko said. “Dr Margineanu didn’t explain why she was extracting my tooth, or offer any alternative treatment. I suppose I trusted there must have been a reason and she knew what she was doing. She was my dentist after all.”

Over the course of the next two years, Mr Terefenko visited Dr Margineanu for check-ups and was told his dental health was good. It was not until Mr Terefenko had a crown fitted on another tooth in May 2012 that more problems started to become apparent. Soon after the crown had been fitted he started to suffer from toothache.

“Soon after Dr Margineanu fitted the crown my tooth was very painful,” Mr Terefenko recalls. The pain didn’t stop and it started to become really stressful because the pain was excruciating at times. I often couldn’t eat properly. Then in July 2012 a filling had to be replaced because it fell out. “I went to see a different dentist and complained about the pain but they just prescribed antibiotics.”

Mr Terefenko’s dental problems continued, and in 2014 the crown he had been experiencing problems with became loose and had to be re-cemented. But the final straw came in 2015 when Dr Margineanu recommended that another one of his teeth were extracted, and his face swelled-up so much he was unable to talk properly.

Mr Terefenko finally saw a new dentist and was diagnosed with chronic infections and severe decay. He eventually had two more teeth extracted in early 2016.

“It is deeply upsetting,” Mr Terefenko explained. “I have lost three teeth and I am only 33. You just don’t expect it to happen. I’d complained about toothache to Dr Margineanu for so long but she never did anything about it.”

Mr Terefenko contacted the Dental Law Partnership. Analysis of his dental records revealed that Dr Margineanu had indeed failed to spot and treat decay at his teeth, which had led to chronic infection. Decay was clearly visible at some of Mr Terefenko’s teeth in X-rays taken as far back as 2010, but Dr Margineanu did nothing to treat it and just fit crowns and fillings over the decay instead. This was the reason Mr Terefenko’s crowns and fillings failed.

“I am so unhappy with the way Dr Margineanu treated me,” Mr Terefenko explained. “I experienced so much pain and have lost teeth all because she wasn’t doing her job properly. I only wish I’d seen a different dentist sooner. I now need crowns, implants, and root canal treatment at another tooth the decay damaged. So I have a lot more time in the dentist’s chair to look forward to.”

Jonathan Owen of the Dental Law Partnership commented: “What our client went through was completely unnecessary. If the dentist had provided adequate treatment in the first place all the dental problems he experienced could have been avoided. We hope the compensation he receives goes some way towards paying for the additional treatment required.”

The Dental Law Partnership took on Mr Terefenko’s case in February 2016. The case was successfully settled in June 2017 when the dentist paid £20,000 in an out of court settlement. The dentist did not admit liability.