Man Endures Years Of Pain And Loses Two Teeth After Local Dentists Botch Bridgework

• 55-year-old Mark Feldon formerly from High Peak, Derbyshire but now living in Devon, endures years of pain after local dentists botch his dental bridge

• Problems began in 2001 but corrective treatment is still ongoing

• £25,000 compensation

Mark Feldon, a 55-year-old tool maker formerly from High Peak, Derbyshire but now living in Devon, has won £25,000 in compensation from two of his local dentists with the help of specialist dental negligence solicitors, the Dental Law Partnership, after poor bridgework led to years of pain, cracked teeth, and the loss of two teeth.

In 2001 Mr Feldon visited Dr Stephen Ellingham and Dr Elaine Ellingham formerly of High Peak Dental Care in Chapel en le Frith, Derbyshire to have his existing dental bridge replaced. The treatment should have been routine but unfortunately for Mr Feldon it was the beginning of years of trouble.
Mr Feldon initially had numerous appointments with both dentists, and a new bridge was fitted. But Mr Feldon knew something was wrong immediately.

“The bridge kept moving and parts broke off when I was eating,” Mr Feldon recalls. “Pieces of veneer would just fall out and it was really painful. The veneer on one particular tooth fractured repeatedly. ”
Mr Feldon returned to High Peak Dental care on numerous occasions to have the bridge repaired but the problems persisted.

“I kept getting infections and experiencing problems with the bridge,” Mr Feldon said. “It was highly embarrassing too. I’d be out for a meal with friends and suddenly there would be the ‘crunch’ sound of a tooth breaking and I’d be picking pieces of it out from my mouth.”

Between 2001 and 2006 Mr Feldon visited the dentists on various occasions in a desperate attempt to rectify the situation, but the appointments never seemed to make a difference. The veneer on the tooth that had repeatedly fractured fell out four times in total, and when Dr Elaine Elingham eventually crowned the tooth, the crown later fell out. In 2005, she fitted a fully repaired bridge but the problems did not go away.

“The repaired bridge was always painful,” Mr Feldon explained. “My gums were nearly always sore and swelled up. I suppose over the years I just got used to it.”

Fast forward to 2011 and Mr Feldon was suffering from severe toothache. He returned to High Peak Dental Care and had appointments with Dr Stephen Ellingham where examinations and root canal treatment was undertaken. But Mr Feldon’s toothache didn’t go away.

However, the final straw for Mr Feldon was in 2012 when his bridge fell out again. Fed up with the treatment he was receiving at High Peak Dental Care he saw a new dentist who was shocked by what he found.

“He immediately discovered multiple problems with the bridgework and the restorative treatment I had received,” Mr Feldon recalls. “It made me so angry. I had trusted the dentists at High Peak Dental Care as experts but their treatment had actually been the cause of all my problems.”

Because of the poor treatment, Mr Feldon has had to have two teeth extracted, will lose three more teeth in the future, and now has to wear a denture. Extensive corrective treatment was also required and this is still on-going. In 2015, unprepared to accept the ordeal, Mr Feldon contacted the Dental Law Partnership.

Evidence presented to the Dental Law Partnership showed that the main cause of Mr Feldon’s problems was that his dentists had fitted an inappropriate, overly long bridge that exerted too much pressure on the teeth. This damaged both his teeth and the bridge. Mr Feldon’s dental records also showed that when Dr Elaine Ellingham repaired the bridge in 2005, she fitted linked crowns on two of Mr Feldon’s teeth which also exerted unnecessary pressure on his teeth. Dr Stephen Ellingham also failed to quickly treat the tooth decay that had developed in 2011 when Mr Feldon was experiencing toothache. Crown and root canal treatment performed by both dentists was also found to have been inadequate.

“The whole experience has had a highly negative effect on my life,” Mr Feldon said. “It’s not just the pain and the lost teeth it’s all the time I’ve spent going to the dentist. The whole situation has literally gone on for years.”

Emma Owen of the Dental Law Partnership commented: “What our client had to experience was completely unnecessary. If the dentists had undertaken the proper treatment in the first place all the pain and suffering he endured over many years could have been avoided. We hope the compensation he receives goes some way towards paying for the corrective treatment he now requires.”

The Dental Law Partnership took on Mr Feldon’s case in September 2015. The case was successfully settled in November 2016 when Dr Stephen Ellingham and Dr Elaine Ellingham paid £25,000 in an out of court settlement. The dentists did not admit liability.