Cut-price Hungarian dentist butchered my smile says widow
A WIDOW who spent her savings trying to fix her smile says her life has been ruined after she was ‘butchered’ by a Hungarian dentist.
Jackie Stokes, 65, spent £9,500 on getting implants fitted in Hungary after her NHS dentist of 30 years went private and she could not afford the fees.
But the procedures went catastrophically wrong, resulting in crippling pain, blisters, stitches falling out and the implants shifting. Mrs Stokes said: ‘It’s left me feeling as if I have been butchered, physically assaulted and robbed of my life savings.’
Dr Zsolt Csillag, working at the Forest and Ray Medical Care Group in London, had advised Mrs Stokes to have three procedures in the capital and two in Budapest.
While in Budapest in 2012, she had implants in her upper jaw and crowns on eight teeth in her lower jaw. The following year she returned to Hungary, but was left with a ‘bulldog bite’ – a gap between her gums and upper teeth through which food would seep, and the implants then failed and were removed.
Mrs Stokes, from Burton-uponTrent, Staffordshire, who now has to wear uncomfortable dentures, said: ‘I am still suffering the aftermath. It’s been a nightmare and it’s still ongoing.
‘This entire episode is indelibly etched upon my brain. It’s ruined my life.’
Over a two- and- a- half- year period Mrs Stokes made eight visits to London, two to Budapest and then 17 trips to London to try to fix the damage. But she still needs eight implants as well as cosmetic work – and has been quoted £25,000 to fix her smile.
‘I’m broke, I don’t have any money. I could forget the money but it’s what they left me with which is so painful,’ Mrs Stokes said. ‘When my identical twin
‘It’s ruined my life’
sister, Jo, saw me for the first time when I returned, she burst into tears and said: “What have they done to you?”’
Dr Csillag was referred to the General Dental Council (GDC), which found him guilty of mis- conduct which caused ‘irreversible damage to otherwise healthy teeth’. It gave him a one-year supervision order, but the restrictions apply only when he is working in the United Kingdom.
‘I’m appalled that they can come in this country... and hide behind the Hungarian law,’ Mrs Stokes said.
Dr Csillag is believed to have returned to Hungary and appeared at the GDC hearing in February via Skype.
Dental tourism to Eastern European countries has soared in recent years due to the diminishing numbers of NHS dentists and prohibitive costs of private dentists in the UK.
The majority of Hungarian den- tists promise a saving of between 40 and 70 per cent in fees. Both Dr Csillag and Forest and Ray were unavailable for comment.
Thousands of patients could be exposed to the risk of serious injury by cheap Chinese-made dental drills on sale in Britain.
The ‘ extremely dangerous’ high- speed drills, which look identical to a reputable brand, were sold at knock-down prices by a fraudster on eBay. But the devices can shatter during use.
The warning by the Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency was made after Dilber Dilshad, 49, of Croydon, South London, was convicted of selling the imitation drills.