Dentist disappeared

Couped

Hi, looking for advice.. I've had a 8 month long struggle and finally found possibly somewhere for some good advice.

I've been registered with a Scottish dental practice and had extensive work done over the 2 years with him, it came as no surprise when I attended an appointment and was told the dentist had dissapeared, just recently I've found out he was struck off and has caused problems to alot of people he treated.
Anyway.. the dentist practice recommended another practice who I've went to, after check up it was discovered my 3 front bridge work was very badly installed at which point the practice told me they were referring me to an NHS Scottish dental hospital the reason being they didn't know what to do!!!...

This is where I fail... So I've been waiting.. a good 7 months with still no word or hospital appointment.

Driving home last month the front teeth 3 off, fall out... The bridge has been installed over badly prepared teeth and they have been rotting, causing my nose to swell, so I made an appointment with a local dental practice who seem keen on taking on the work... They've even called me "the special case".. there's alot wrong in the mouth needing redone properly.
I need alot of work done that I simply can't afford, the dentist option is dentures or private veneers to replace the missing teeth which with my income 16k aka £300 per week, minus 2 kids,food rent ect...
I've a feeling now because the practice hasn't made the referral which they havent and I've left it too long I can't complain, I feel I've paid all this monies for work that's been bodged now I'm having to redo the work again at my expense where as if it was done properly the first time I may have not been in this scenario.

Sorry for the long posting.. it's taking a while to get the confidence out to say and hopefully get someone who understands.

I currently have no front teeth, my confidence has gone, I don't smile,don't talk to people I just seem to be slumping week by week.

Couped

The new practice has taking me on, however it'll get to a point I can't get the teeth as simply can't afford it nor a treatment plan.

How can I get a referral for someone to have a look or even spend a consultation with me to see what this bodge dentist had done over the years?

lisyloo

Aren’t the original practice liable?
Was your contract with the individual or the practice?

Do you have any legal cover on your home insurance? If so call the free legal helpline and ask them.

Do you not have NHS dentists in Scotland? (Sorry I’m In England, don’t know how it works there).

brook2jack

The contract you will have had will be with the dentist , not the practice.

Unfortunately the dental hospital will have very long waiting lists and may not even accept your referral, budgets are very restricted and complicated crown or bridge problems may not be accepted.

First contact the second practice and check the referral has been sent , explain the problems you have had and see what they suggest. Also ask them for a copy of your notes and x rays.

Second write the original practice a letter and ask for a forwarding address for your ex dentist , and if they don't have one , ask for details of the dentists indemnity company. All dentists have to have malpractice insurance by law , and all practices must check the dentist has malpractice insurance and keep copies of who it is with. Also ask for a copy of your notes and x Rays , this they must give you without charge.

If there is no forwarding address of your ex dentist , then write a letter to the indemnity company with dates and details of your treatment , what the practice has done , and what the new practice has said about your treatment, along with copies of notes and xrays (keep copies yourself) .

It will take a lot of time , but if the dentist is covered by indemnity then you may get compensation if the dentist has been negligent.

Unfortunately if this has happened to a lot of his patients and he is negligent the indemnity company can refuse to cover him. If this happens then you will have to try to compensation direct from him , which if you can't trace him may be difficult.

There are no win no fee lawyers who will deal with cases like this and normally I would advise people to deal with the dentist/practice direct but if the dentist has disappeared they may be worth a try eg https://www.dentallaw.co.uk

This will all take time , so in the meantime contact the dentist to see what can be done to help you now, that you can afford . Is it a NHS or private practice you were referred onto?

Couped

Hi thanks for the informative replys.. I've been busy today hunting!..
Unfortunately there is no whereabout of the dentist in question nor any insurances they had held at the practice.
The second practice with the NHS referral has not made the referral, so I've been awaiting the best part of 7 months for nothing.. I know now I should've been doing updates and thus falls on my account.
However because I've now went to another practice the second practice won't allow any further correspondence as they state iam now being treated elsewhere and it's the new practice that now has the ownus of referring himself which I already know he's not as he's already stated he'll refer the treatment privately.

So basically I've had treatment on the NHS by a dentist with ill practice who's now dissapeared after being struck off, I've been passed to another practice who basically had a look told me there refering, then haven't... Like to me they didn't want to touch any thing as the ownus would be on them, who are now putting the ownus on the new practice who won't refer via NHS but force the works so I pay privately.

brook2jack

The practice your ex dentist worked at had a legal obligation to check he had indemnity insurance, they will have had to fill out paperwork for the NHS to say they have checked.
. You should write a letter as detailed above. If they don't give you a satisfactory reply then they are obligated to give you the details to escalate the complaint. You need to write that letter . By NHS rules they have to comply and if not you can escalate the complaint .

I doubt that a NHS dental hospital will accept your referral but is the dentist you are seeing now NHS? Did they give you a reason why they couldn't give you a NHS referral? It may well be your case doesn't meet the referral criteria.

You have two aims here

1 to find a treatment you can afford for now

2 to chase up any possibility of compensation if your treatment was negligent. This is likely to take a long time, if ever.

sheramber

https://www.dentalprotection.org/uk/articles/nhs-scotland-launches-new-complaints-procedure

Sammy2018

lisyloo wrote: »

Do you have any legal cover on your home insurance? If so call the free legal helpline and ask them.

What's home insurance got to do with your teeth??

Toothsmith

Legal cover on home insurance gives you access to a legal helpline where you could get useful advice on all sorts of disputes. It might be worth a try to get some good initial advice. Taking it further might require more specialist advice, which may or may not be covered - but the helplines you can get in these policies can be useful.

lisyloo

Sammy2018 wrote: »

What's home insurance got to do with your teeth??

Home insurance sometimes comes with a family legal protection add-on which provides legal insurance for pursuing legal/consumer issues.

So there are two elements here.
One is that there is usually a free helpline where you can get initial advice from a qualified solicitor.
The other element is a 5 figure sum of legal insurance to pursue someone (if there is someone liable) in a legal case.

Personally I always take this but I’m a cyclist which is a factor is my decision.

Obviously that’s seperate to getting treatment sorted and legal action would likely take some comsiderable time.

I use this company
https://memonline.co.uk/home-legal-protection-insurance/

I prefer mine standalone just in case I need to sue my home insurer (which you can’t do with their add on) and for car insurance I have it standalone is case I want to use it not in connection with an insurance claim.