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I heard a mother talking the other day about moving house and how excited she was, apart from the distance she’d now have to travel to take her children for their regular dentist appointments. When her friend suggested moving to a local dentist the mother looked both shocked and amused, replying “do you know how long it takes to get an NHS dentist these days?”
Gone are the days of simply registering your family with the closet dental practice, and with the number of NHS dentists and the treatments they provide reducing, more and more people are turning to private practises.
However as customer costs increase so does their awareness, and when patients are paying for dental work (either to the NHS or privately) they expect, understandably, high levels of service. Perhaps this is therefore the reason for the significant rise in the numbers of complaints and claims against dentists over the last 8 years.
A survey of 2,000 people from an online panel of UK adults found that of the dental patients surveyed, 37% had complained about some aspect of their dental care, with the most common cause for complaint being the cost of treatment (33%) followed by ineffective treatment (14%) and unnecessary treatment (13%).
As we know, we have a high standard of dental care in this country but mistakes can happen and dental mistakes can be painful, debilitating and expense to rectify.
Examples of dental negligence include:
Root Canal Therapy (Endodontic)
Two of the most common things to go wrong are failure to remove all of the root and failure to fill the canal properly. Also root canal treatment sometimes results in a piece of the dental tool breaking off within the root canal.
Failed Implants
Implants are now commonly used to replace missing teeth. Dental errors can occur, causing implants to be fitted incorrectly.
Extracting the Wrong Tooth
This may count as a 'Never Event' which is explained in one of our previous blogs.
Inadequate Dental Technique
...resulting in poor fillings or crowns which need to be replaced.
Failing to Manage Gum Disease (Periodontal Disease)
If a patient has been regularly seeing their dentist for a number of years and their gum disease either goes completely unnoticed or is not treated correctly then a claim for compensation may be possible.
Misdiagnosis and / or Lack of Treatment
Patients have a right to be told about all the treatment options available to them. If a patient is incorrectly led to believe that there is only one treatment option available to them (when other options are also available) they may be entitled to make a claim for compensation.
Cosmetic Dentistry Compensation Claims
These can include accidents during bleaching, attaching porcelain veneers, or carrying out crown, bridge or orthodontic work. Also some dentists use dermal fillers, Botox or hyaluronic acid, which come with potential risks (see dermal fillers blog). This is a growing area for dental negligence compensation claims and we will look at it in more detail in a future article.
We Can Help
If you feel you have suffered as the result of dental negligence, or are unsure and would like to talk your situation through, then get in contact. Our friendly specialist advisors can talk to you about your situation and see if you have a valid claim. There is no charge for this service and you are under no obligation to claim with us.
If You Have a Genuine Claim, Contact a Genuine Company
May I Claim, is a trading name of R Costings Limited and our CRM number is 25770
If you’ve had an accident that wasn’t your fault and suffered an injury - you can trust us to handle your claim professionally.
Call us now on 0800 756 7774 and talk to us to find out if you have a claim - or fill in our Quick Claim form (on the right of this page).
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