£13,750 for failed dental care

Posted 15/01/2014

Ashtons Legal medical injury specialist Sophie Bales has obtained £13,750 for Mr O, a man who suffered over two years’ of inappropriate dental treatment. Mr O underwent bridge treatment and then began to suffer persistent infections and abscesses in the area of his mouth where this work had been carried out. 

After a considerable delay he was found to have a fractured root in one of the teeth below the level of the crown. This was treated but he developed a further abscess and it became apparent that the mesial surface of the root had been perforated during the course of the corrective treatment.

Sophie Bales explains: “What was negligent in this case was not the initial fracture but the fact that it went undiagnosed for over two years and that Mr O suffered as a result. Failure to diagnose medical conditions in an acceptable timeframe – and the suffering that people have to endure as a result – is one of the key reasons that medical injury claims are brought. In many cases this is less about the financial compensation than about trying to ensure that other patients do not suffer the same problems.”