Mr Toby Parker, an 18-year-old college student from Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester, has been awarded £10,000 by his former dentist with the help of specialist dental negligence solicitors the Dental Law Partnership. The payment was awarded after his dentist failed to diagnose decay or provide appropriate treatment for years, leading to the loss of a tooth when Toby was only 15 years old.
Mr Parker was a long-term patient of Dr Mohammad Naseem at A R Dental in Cheadle Hulme for over a decade. “In 2018, when I was 13 years old, I went for a regular check-up but Dr Naseem didn’t flag anything of note,” Mr Parker recalled. “For a couple of years he just added Duraphat toothpaste to a few of my teeth, which is used to treat the early onset of decay, instead of appropriately diagnosing and treating it.”
“In 2020 I discussed the chances of needing braces but he said it’s not necessary. My mum wanted a second opinion so she requested a referral to a dental hospital,” Mr Parker explained. “When I went to visit the hospital in 2021, they confirmed Dr Naseem was right about me not needing braces, but they found that he missed a lot of other issues in my teeth that should have been treated.”
“The hospital diagnosed decay in a few of my teeth, which was luckily caught before it got worse, and I also have hypomineralisation where the enamel on my teeth is soft and more prone to decay than normal,” Mr Parker recalled. “They advised on a suitable treatment plan to have one of my teeth extracted, as well as fillings on three others. As a result of my dental issues being ignored, I had to undergo a really painful extraction when I was 15.”
Frustrated with the experience, Mr Parker and his parents contacted the Dental Law Partnership in 2021. Further analysis revealed the extent of the poor dental treatment Mr Parker received from Dr Naseem, where years of undiagnosed decay was left unchecked without treatment when it should’ve been spotted and treated in 2018. This led to the significant deterioration of his teeth and eventually caused the distressing loss of his tooth which could have been avoided.
“I’m now missing a tooth which I should’ve had for the rest of my life. It’s annoying, and now my teeth are so sensitive I can’t eat cold things like ice cream,” Mr Parker explained. “But more importantly it’s the shock of the whole thing and disappointment at the mistakes Dr Naseem made at a crucial point of time in my life, especially after the amount of trust I put into him as a child. It’s really not pleasant when you find out the person you trusted for years has let you down, and I’m now scared of going back to the dentist.”
Poppy Heslop of the Dental Law Partnership commented: “The distress and pain our client has experienced was completely unnecessary. If the dentist involved had provided more satisfactory treatment, his problems could have been avoided.”
The Dental Law Partnership took on Mr Parker’s case in 2021. The case was successfully settled in February 2024 when Mr Parker was paid £10,000 in an out of court settlement. The dentist involved did not admit liability. Any patients who believe they may have received negligent dental care should visit The Dental Law Partnership.