M R Law has successfully recovered damages on behalf of a client who had a tooth unnecessarily extracted after the dentist had failed to conduct adequate investigations to identify the actual tooth causing the pain.

Our client had attended at his dentist with toothache but could not be specific as to the actual tooth causing him discomfort. The dentist conducted a brief examination, tapping the man’s teeth but the source of the pain was still not apparent.

The dentist then took an x-ray of the man’s teeth on the upper right side of his mouth concluding that this was the source of the pain. The dentist advised that one option was to remove the apparently problematic tooth at the next appointment.

Prior to that appointment, the man was not convinced that the pain was originating from the upper right side of his mouth and informed the dentist, but the dentist insisted this was likely to be the source of the pain and with the patient’s consent, she removed the apparently problematic tooth.

Immediately upon its removal, the man remained in severe pain and it quickly became apparent that the extracted tooth had not been the source of his pain. The dentist then requested an x-ray of the teeth on the bottom right side where it quickly became obvious that one of those teeth was the correct source of the pain. The dentist then had to remove the actual tooth causing the man discomfort.

Dental negligence claims are sometimes difficult to pursue. It is a specialised area and damages are not particularly high but this was an interesting claim to investigate. ~Robert Barker

Robert Barker, head of the Medical Negligence team at M R Law comments, “Dental negligence claims are sometimes difficult to pursue. It is a specialised area and damages are not particularly high but this was an interesting claim to investigate.”

Our client had provided the dentist with as much information as he could about the source of his pain. Further, there was already information recorded in his dental records to show that he may have a potential problem with the tooth on the bottom right side of his mouth that turned out to be the actual cause of his problems.

“There was no reason why this error had to occur. Had the dentist read the notes and taken a full x-ray, she would have been able to identify quickly the correct source of the pain,” adds Barker.

On this occasion the M R Law Medica Negligence team was able to obtain recompense for the client in the form of damages for his unnecessary pain and suffering and to allow him to fund treatment for an implant to replace the incorrectly extracted tooth. He was delighted with the outcome.