Root Canal on NHS

donnietodd86

Good Morning,

I had a root canal treatment and a crown fitted on NHS around 2 years ago and was never 100% convinced that it was as solid as the one I have on the other side of my mouth. As when I would eat anything with high sugar content it would give me tiny niggles. Nothing too worrying but it was just a little sensitive until I either chewed some gum or brushed my teeth.

Summer last year I developed an abscess which was extremely painful. Took a course of antibiotics and cleared it up. Shortly after went to a private dentist that took a few X-rays and revealed that there had been what looked like an instrument left in my tooth. I developed another abscess recently and started to ask a few questions about what had happened to my tooth etc. I then learnt that the Dentist that had done the work was in fact notorious for shoddy workmanship and had even done work to elderly patients privately that didn't even need work doing. This particular dentist was a Persian lady working out of a practice in Felpham nr Bognor Regis. After doing a bit more research learnt that this particular dentist has had her car vandalised on several different occasions (possibly due to some extremely unhappy customers that had possibly been left in severe agony) who knows!

The point I'm making is that its clear that this dentist has a history of poor workmanship.

Iv also learnt that this particular dentist has now fled the country, does anybody have any idea where I stand with this as I now need to see a root canal specialist to see if the tooth can be saved, Iv been told these don't come cheap and feel a bit hard done by given the stories iv heard about this lady. Surely leaving an instrument in someones tooth is malpractice?

Thanks for your time..

brook2jack

Actually the instruments used in root treatment are very fine and a known risk is they might break during root treatment. In most cases it would be very difficult to remove and in most cases the patient is advised of the break and in most cases the instrument is left in situ as it works very well as a root filling.

So a broken instrument is not in itself negligance. In general root treatment itself has a 80 to 90% success rate so a failed root treatment is not negligence. A specialist has a higher rate of success and can tackle difficult cases but there are virtually no endodontic specialists on the nhs so any treatment will have to be private.

The first port of call should be a letter to the practice who may be able to forward you onto the dentist. The practice has no liability that is solely the dentists and if they have moved abroad you May have difficulty in getting any response. If that is the case you will not be able to take things further without extreme difficulty and expence as if the dentist is overseas they will no longer be registered with the gdc and their professional liability insurance will have lapsed .You can check their registration on the gdc website.

brook2jack

Researching a bit , if this is the dentist I think it is she was struck off the dental register last year. She did not turn up to any of the days of the hearing and had no legal representation. She said , in mitigation, she did not intend to practice dentistry again. The GDC cannot rule on monetary matters and as she has already been struck off there is little you can do there.

If she has gone overseas it is unlikely she will co operate with her indemnity company , in which case you are at an impasse. It may even be that the indemnity company will not cover her , in which case you would have to persue her personally which will be an expensive and long process.

The only thing you can try is to see if the surgery has a forwarding address.

izzybella16

Was this an upper back tooth?

donnietodd86

it was lower right side, one back from the canine.

donnietodd86

it was lower right side, one back from the canine.

brook2jack

The poster may not reply to you as they have been busy spamming for a dental clinic in Hungary.

izzybella16

A lower molar has two roots usually, NHS dentists not keen on doing them but will usually do a 2 root tooth but a lot will rush it and not do a good job. If tool is broken in root then most likely the root has not been filled. It will either need redoing by an endodontist or an apicoectomy (Cut away bone around tooth root to access roots and deal with it)