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This article was published on January 29th, 2014
A Dorset man was left nearly toothless after spending £8,000 on private dental treatment.
The 38 year old man, who appeared on Channel 5’s documentary ‘Botched Up Bodies’ spoke of his 20 year nightmare when he experienced numerous problems from inadequate dental treatment. The ordeal began when he had a wisdom tooth removed at the age of 18 which was snapped off at the root rather than extracted in full. The patients gums became sore and infected and were to cause further problems to him five years later on when he had his two front teeth knocked out in a windsurfing accident.
Due to the poor care he received previously, when his wisdom teeth were extracted, he decided to pay privately to replace his front teeth. To his horror he was given over sized ‘tombstone’ like teeth which didn’t match the colour of the rest of his teeth. ‘When you go to someone who’s a professional dentist, private, and they’re charging an awful lot of money for it, you don’t doubt them,’ he confessed.
He didn’t feel confident enough to complain at the time as he was assured that he would get used to them and that the treatment had been a success. Soon after the treatment, he started to experience problems with more teeth as the original gum infection from the original wisdom teeth operation had not been properly treated and now more teeth were rotting. His dentist advised that he needed crowns fitting which he agreed to but yet again was left bewildered after they fell out less than 24 hours after being inserted. Hi dentist advised him to use superglue initially to secure them back in but by this stage the man had become completely disillusioned and was now quite fearful of dental treatment as a result of the painful procedures which had not worked.
He then spent the next few years feeling quite embarrassed about his teeth and even failed to smile on his wedding day for fear his crown would fall off. As a result of appearing on the television show he was advised to have all his teeth removed and after 12 hours of surgery he now has a full set of implants fitted. He delighted with the results and can’t believe he put up with such shoddy dentistry for so long.
Often problems can occur from one initial poor treatment which then has a knock on effect on future dental care if not corrected. Just because your dental treatment is private it doesn’t always mean it’s the best. It may take years for the full extent of the damage to become evident but if you feel that you may have been the victim of dental negligence and have received poor dental treatment then call our specialist solicitors today for an informal chat about your potential claim on 0800 1979 345 or complete our simple enquiry form.
