Dental Case Studies

• Our client was under the care of her dentist from 1992. Unbeknown to our client, she was suffering from periodontal disease which was first recognised in 1997. She was not told about her condition or referred to a specialist for treatment and only received 4 scale and polishes over 9 years.

In 2006 our client started noticing gaps in between her teeth and so she attended a different dentist to see if anything could be done to improve the appearance of her teeth. She was provided with 6 veneers.

In 2008, our client saw another dentist and she was told that she had periodontal disease and it was so severe that she had bone loss and might lose several teeth. She has since lost several teeth and undergone extensive treatment which includes extraction of teeth, replacement veneers, crowns and implants.

Our client has been successful in her claim and has received £36,000 compensation.
 

• Our client brought a claim against her former dentist for negligent dental treatment. She had suffered problems with the tooth when she was a child and in 2008 the tooth became painful. When she attended her dentist, he failed to conduct a proper examination and diagnose that the tooth was infected and needed to be extracted.

Our client persevered with the pain in her tooth for several weeks before returning to her dentist who told her that she needed an apicectomy, which is a surgical procedure to treat infection. This was not a pleasant experience.

Our client then saw a different dentist who advised that the tooth did not have any hope of recovering and should have been extracted. Not only this, but the apicectomy had been carried out poorly.

Although the tooth would have needed extracting in any event, the claim was based on the fact that our client suffered a period of unnecessary pain until the infection was diagnosed and then the pain and cost of an apicectomy (which was not required as the tooth needed removing anyway).

Our client received £3,000 by way of compensation.
 

• Our client had a lower back tooth extracted and when he got to his car after the extraction, he noticed a mark that looked like a burn at the right corner of their mouth, near the tooth that had been extracted, which measured approximately 20mm2. This mark was not there prior to our client’s dental appointment.

When our client re-attended the dental practice he was told that the mark could be a cold sore. Our client has never suffered from cold sores.

For the following weeks, the mark formed a very visible scab which was raised and an unsightly yellow colour. This was particularly noticeable as our client’s skin is very dark. The scab occasionally separated and pus oozed from the wound, which our client found very painful and distressing.

After approximately 2.5 weeks, our client was left with a pale white/pink mark which was very noticeable at conversational distance against their dark skin until the area began to re-pigment.

The main allegation was failure to use reasonable skill and care when extracting the tooth in that an injury was caused to the right corner of our client’s mouth. This resulted in the avoidable pain and suffering.

Our client recovered the sum of £1,000 by way of compensation.

Do you have a potential medical negligence claim?

Please contact us for advice if you feel you have suffered any form of negligent medical/dental treatment. We have a specialist team of solicitors who are always happy to help. At Quality Solicitors Oliver & Co, we are unique in that the head of our Clinical Negligence department, Linda Schermer, is a qualified doctor as well as a qualified solicitor. We therefore benefit from in-house medical knowledge and are able to get to grips with your claim and locate any areas of negligent care quickly.

Our solicitors deal with a wide variety of medical claims including missed/delayed diagnosis claims, orthopaedic injuries, drug dispensing errors and claims against GPs. Our Liz Fry also has extensive experience with claims against dentists and our Kerry Bateman has had great success in pursuing claims involving poor nursing care.

With the assistance of our paralegal Lisa Thomas and our team secretary Corinna Phillips, we tend to work on a team basis and pool our legal and medical knowledge to offer the best service to our clients.

If you would like advice on whether you have a potential clinical negligence claim or assistance with drafting a letter of complaint, please contact us on the number below. Please note that there are legal time limits in place for starting a claim for compensation, and our specialist clinical negligence solicitors will be able to advise you specifically on the facts of your own case.