£40k payout after dental pain ‘ordeal’
>
ABRICKLAYER has received a £40,000 payout from his dentist after suffering years of “unbearable” toothache.
Morgan Rees, 25, received the settlement from his dentist after claims the practice allegedly failed to spot and treat his tooth decay.
Mr Rees, a bricklayer from Brecon, visited Mydentist dental practice in Crickhowell between November 2013 and May 2015.
But, after suffering ongoing tooth pain, he claims he was eventually told he would have to have three teeth taken out because of the treatment he received.
Mr Rees said he first started suffering from toothache in 2014 and made an appointment to see Dr Maria Bousmpouki.
He said: “She said I needed root canal treatment, so I let her go ahead. After all, you trust dentists as professionals, don’t you? And I thought it would be routine.”
However, Mr Rees’ problems continued and he began suffering from toothache again.
After returning to the practice in March 2015 to have fillings to the same tooth where root canal treatment had been performed, he was reportedly told another root canal treatment may be required at a separate tooth.
He said: “Unbelievably, a week or so after that appointment the two teeth flared up again. It got progressively worse over the following days, to the point where I was in agony. My face was so swollen. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, it was awful, so I went to hospital to see what they could do.”
In hospital, Mr Rees was told he had an abscess. He had to have an incision in his gum to drain the abscess and was given antibiotics to prevent further infection.
But he claims he had to return to the practice with more toothache the following month to see Dr Dorrel Gordon.
Mr Rees said: “After the abscess was drained the pain stopped for a little while. But soon enough it was back just as bad as ever. I saw Dr Gordon again, who told me the tooth would probably need extracting at some point, but didn’t do anything to stop the pain.
“I thought I’d try and put up with the pain for a little while longer to see if it improved, as I didn’t want to lose my tooth.”
In March 2017 Mr Rees claims he went to a different dental practice after a particularly excruciating bout of toothache. There, he claimed, he was told two teeth had to be extracted due to severe decay.
He said: “I was immediately told two of my teeth were so severely decayed they’d need to be extracted.
“I couldn’t believe it – I’d been to see them so many times and they’d never said or done anything about it.”
As a result of his alleged ordeal, Mr Rees had one tooth extracted and is expected to lose two more. Another tooth has been severely damaged by untreated decay.
He said: “I had to constantly worry about my teeth. I couldn’t even order a steak when I was eating out because of the pressure and pain it would put on my teeth. I had to miss work on several occasions too. The whole ordeal was horrible.”
In 2017 the Dental Law Partnership took on Mr Rees’ case. The case was settled this year, when the dentists agreed to pay Mr Rees £40,000 in an out-of-court settlement. The dentists did not admit liability.
A spokesman for the practice said: “We are sorry for Mr Rees’ experience, which falls significantly below what we expect for patients.”