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This article was published on June 26th, 2015
A woman has been left in a very delicate position after a tiny drill bit snapped off inside her tooth whilst a dentist was performing a root canal procedure. An X-ray showed a 8mm fragment of dental drill lodged in her jaw bone.
She claims her dentist said that the broken instrument was ‘a non-negligent complication’ and told not ‘it happens all the time’.
“When they came back……. explained what had happened and that there was no way to remove the drill, so they were going to simply fill in the hole and send me home.
“I was in shock, just going through the motions and letting them get on with treatment so I could get out of there as soon as possible. When I finally left the chair, clearly visibly shaken, another dentist at the practice tried to calm me down, telling me not to worry, that it happens all the time – they just usually don’t tell the patients! I didn’t know what to say. I was totally dumbfounded.
“The drill was lodged so near my nerve that there was a major concern that removing it would lead to a loss of sensation in my jaw, tongue and lip.”
The woman was then left with a painful and rotting tooth for more than six months until she could get bad tooth extracted. She stills has to undergo another six to nine months of remedial treatment and will have a gap in her smile until she gets a replacement tooth fitted.
“I’m not looking forward to having the implant fitted – I know it will be painful – but hopefully once it’s complete, I can put this nightmare behind me. Whatever happens, I know that I will never be able to get back in the dentist’s chair for another root canal treatment and hope to avoid ever having to go through anything like this again.”
She was successful in her compensation claim and received £5,500 compensation for the tooth to be extracted and replaced with an implant.
We all like to trust our dentist and most of the time they get it right but when they get it wrong the results can be painful and permanent. If you think you have experienced poor dental treatment at the hands of a dental professional whether its a dentist, dental hygienist or dental therapist then contact our specialist dental compensation solicitors for more information. It is important to highlight poor practice and make sure it doesn’t happen to other patients.
Our dental negligence claims solicitors at Thorneycroft have consistently achieved excellent results for our clients in Macclesfield, Manchester, Cheshire and surrounding areas and remain dedicated to maximising the compensation for dentist negligence claims available on a no win – no fee basis. Call us now on FREEPHONE 0800 093 2030, or complete our simple enquiry form and we can call you back at a time to suit you.
