South-East woman speaks out about dental blunders

A 24-year-old has received a £7,000 payout in an out of court settlement after a series of failings by her dentist.

When Jessica Jarmyn, from Kent, returned home from boarding school in October 2013, she visited a local NHS dentist for an immediate appointment after suffering pain in one of her upper back teeth.

Miss Jarmyn, now a research assistant at an investment bank, was told she needed a filling despite never needing to have one before.

But a month after the treatment, Jessica’s pain still hadn’t subsided and despite visiting her dentist 3 times she experienced shooting pains caused by the filling pressing against a nerve. “The pain was unbearable I wasn’t offered any form of pain relief or antibiotics” Jessica commented, “and I had a terrible feeling that I’d been botched, so I went back  for a final visit and my dentist told me the only way to stop the pain would be through the root canal treatment of my upper back tooth. However after starting the procedure, the dentist realised they couldn’t locate one of the canals of my tooth, so referred me to a specialist. At this point I was in agony and to make matters worse, I was told that I’d have to wait two weeks until the consultation.”

Jessica, who suffers from Crohn’s disease, sought a second opinion from a dental centre in Tunbridge Wells, her boyfriend’s home town. Here she discovered that her tooth’s tissue had been destroyed and that she had been left with a deep cavity. She was advised that the tooth needed extracting and replacing with an implant once the area has healed at a cost of £1,500.

“I couldn’t believe that I needed even more treatment. I had gone from needing a basic filling to now needing a full extraction procedure. At that point I was extremely angry with and couldn’t believe a professional dentist could get it so wrong!”

The dentist  did not admit liability but Jessica sought compensation for her ordeal with the help of specialist dental negligence solicitors, the Dental Law Partnership, who successfully settled her case out-of-court in June 2015 for £7,000.

Jennie Hales, a solicitor at the Dental Law Partnership who pursued Jessica’s case, said: “The sub-standard dental treatment i forced my client to endure unnecessary remedial procedures which caused acute pain and suffering. If more care was taken in the first instance, her ongoing treatment could have been avoided.”

Jessica added, “I have a completely different outlook on dentists now and am much more sceptical and nervous but I couldn’t be more thrilled with the help I’ve received from the Dental Law Partnership, I’d definitely encourage others to always seek a second opinion.”