When visiting a dentist, feeling nervous is something many can relate to. Whether it’s for a simple check up or a tooth removal, it can be a stressful time. Dental practitioners are expected to keep both your well-being and health in mind but, unfortunately, not every visit goes as smoothly as expected and medical negligence may occur.
Mistakes can be made, which in most cases could be a simple and inconsequential error. Dental negligence can be a severely traumatic experience, but not all cases are considered as such. Before you consider making a claim, there are a few things to keep in mind.
What is Dental Negligence?
This variation of a medical negligence typically occurs when there is a breach of duty of care by dentists or members of a dental team. This results in harm being caused to a patient, with their treatment being below what is expected from a professional in the field. Dental negligence leads to both mental and physical injury due to an absence of care or skill.
Although defining what constitutes as dental negligence can be complicated, there are three main categories to consider:
- Should there be a failed or missed diagnosis, the original issue may have worsened, or damage may have occurred to healthy teeth.
- Insufficient care. When the appropriate treatment or techniques aren’t applied, they may cause severe short or long-term complications.
- Careless conduction of dental work. Whether healthy teeth were extracted or there was damage done to the jaw or mouth, there is a wide range of careless dental work issues to be considered.
Can I Claim Dental Negligence?
It is important to note, however, that just the potential of something having gone wrong is not considered dental negligence. There are several forms of both action or inaction that can be considered as dental negligence, such as:
- Too much or too little anaesthesia administered
- Lack of consent for the treatment
- Loss of teeth due to improper care
- Failure to monitor patient
- Failure to counsel patient about the risks involved in procedures
- Injury to the jaw bone
- Failure to treat an abscess
- Extraction or treatment of the wrong tooth
- Failure to diagnose oral cancer
- Damage done to healthy teeth
Within these forms of dental negligence, some of the most common examples include a failed implant, the extraction of the wrong tooth, the inadequate placement of fillings or crowns, and a negligently performed root canal treatment.
Who is Liable?
Should you wish to make a claim due to dental negligence, the first step is to make your complaint known to either the dentist or the practice that treated you. Being a private or an NHS patient allows you to raise concerns with the General Dental Council (GDC), a governing body of dental professionals in the UK.
Being the victim of dental negligence can be traumatic and we understand the importance of handling your claim with care. Whether you have received dental treatment through a private dentist or through the NHS that you feel was mishandled, you can get in touch with our team on 01772 562084.