Dentist in £42,500 payout to woman who lost four teeth
ASOCIAL worker has received a £42,500 payout from her Midland dentist as compensation for losing four teeth.
Esther Douglas claims Coalway Road Family Dental Practice’s “consistent failure” to spot and treat decay led to her losing her teeth after suffering years of pain and dental infections.
Although the Wolverhampton practice has not admitted liability, it has paid out the cash in an out-ofcourt settlement four years on from the treatment, after The Dental Law Partnership took on the case.
Coalway Road Family Dental Practice declined to comment on the settlement.
Mrs Douglas, aged 45, who lives in Wolverhampton, claimed she was given a filling in June 2009 after she
started to suffer from toothache. It seemed fairly routine so I thought that would be the end of it,” she said.
However, two years later, the pain returned so she made another appointment.
“In hindsight I suppose I should have thought having a filling placed at the same tooth in a short space of time was a little odd,” Mrs Douglas said.
“But you just trust your dentist don’t you? I still wasn’t particularly concerned, and again, thought this would be the end of my problems.”
By April 2012, Mrs Douglas was suffering from toothache yet again and this time, she was prescribed antibiotics.
But her problems did not stop there, and by December 2013, Mrs Douglas was suffering pain in a different tooth. She had a root canal treatment which she claimed “didn’t make much difference”, adding: “By March 2014, I was still suffering from pain at the same tooth and was told it needed to be extracted.
“It did seem strange, I suppose I just thought I had bad teeth and there was nothing I could do.”
To fill the gap left by the extracted tooth, Mrs Douglas had a bridge fitted in August 2014, which she was immediately “very unhappy” with, adding: “The colour was all wrong, it was yellow, and my teeth are quite white. It stuck out too.”
Mrs Douglas claims further treatment for a root canal was not carried out properly and that on one occasion she suffered a burn to her lip.
When the problems persisted, she finally decided to visit another practice for a second opinion.
“As soon as I saw my new dentist I told him about the problems I’d been experiencing.
“Almost immediately, he told me that three of my teeth were so badly damaged they needed to be extracted and that I’d need dentures to replace them. I couldn’t believe it.
“The whole ordeal has been nightmare. The pain was terrible.
“Having my teeth extracted really affected me. I’m someone who
a laughs and smiles a lot, but I became really self-conscious which stopped me laughing as much.
“It impacted my sleep too. I even went to the doctor about it, and was told my problems were down to stress from my dental problems.”