Our client, a 29 year old woman from the North of England, has recently been awarded £20,000 in an out of court settlement after her dentists failed to extract 2 baby teeth during her childhood.
Ms A, who had attended the defendants’ practice since the age of 6, successfully sued her dentists, Dr K and Dr B, after an examination with another dentist revealed that at the age of 25 her URC and ULC (upper baby canines) were still in place and should have been taken out many years earlier.
Although Dr K and Dr B denied liability, Ms A recalls asking Dr K on multiple occasions whether it was normal for the baby teeth to still be in place in her late teens. She was right to be concerned and the new dentist immediately referred her to a specialist to discuss orthodontic treatment options.
Upon the advice of the specialist orthodontist, Ms A chose to have the baby teeth extracted in the hope that the adult canine teeth would drop down. Unfortunately even after several months there was no movement – the adult teeth remained rooted above the surface of the gum. Faced with several years brace treatment into her thirties, and the associated pain, time off work and yet more embarrassment about her teeth, Ms A chose to have the adult canine teeth surgically removed, and to have bridges fitted to temporarily fill the gaps.
Ms A intends to use the compensation which the Dental Law Partnership helped her win to have permanent implants fitted to replace the 2 adult canine teeth.