Dentist negligent treatment

Mimim_2

Hi!
I'm quite upset and nervous because I have to ask for advice. I've never done anything like that before and am not quite sure if I where I should start. 

Let me explain this situation...

My partner starts his root canal treatment with the dentist on 27th May. (Through NHS).
The tooth has been opened cleaned and treated to kill nerves. Then the next appointment has been made for the end of June (4 weeks after) to complete treatment and this was already a bit worrying. But In the meantime......
14th June we come back as filing fall out 😪 he develops infection (2 antibiotics prescribed followed with temporary filling by other dentists as a dentist who starts his treatment been off.)
Straight after that visit, he develops symptoms high-temperature dizziness and headache pain in his ears, and loss of hearing in one ear for a couple of days. 16th June has been diagnosed with labyrinthitis by our GP. This effect his balance, he felt dizzy and been unable to stand straight.
He has been alright for a week, recovered and...
Then a week before his second appointment (30 June) he had a throat infection (tonsillitis) he needs antibiotics for it as well and has to reschedule his appointment (the practice reschedule his appointment for a month and a half forward! 11th August). 
Since this tooth been touched in May he felt discomfort and pain, been feeling like is 'pumping' inside (pulse-like sensation). 
On 2 august.. The week before his appointment he developed another infection in this tooth he had been swollen on the side and in pain over the weekend. (As 111 does not have any available emergency appointments).
On 2nd August he has been seen by other dentists in different practices as no dentist has been available in our 😑 
Another antibiotic was prescribed.. 
Antibiotic work and cleared infection before the appointment. 
On 11th August dentist opened his tooth and cleaned it inside and insert something in to kill nerves again. Straight after this appointment,, he complains about something 'not feeling right' (his gums felt weird, like too soft).
He is booked in again in 2 weeks on 24th August. Today (3 days after treatment he noticed a spot on his gums (where injections were done). He noticed something like a lump with liquid and its burst shortly after with yellow and bloody discharge (tooth abscess). 

I'm very concerned now and I do believe it's all can be classified as dental negligent treatment. I strongly believe all these infections after his first appointment are related to his tooth. He has been unable to start a new job because of several infections. His treatment has been delayed and caused him more problems, extending his recovery time. He has been in pain and discomfort for months. This does not sound right to me at all.
 
I would like to ask where to go and when to handle the complaint. (Now or after treatment has been completed?). Seen a lot of adverts about doing a claim against a dentist but never did even one anywhere and never against anyone soo not sure how this works. 


Any advice will be much appreciated. 
TY  

Carrot007

Maybe, maybe not.

A lot the way you decribe it sounds like coincidence and nothing bad.

Main point I would says is:

> My partner starts his root canal treatment with the dentist on 27th May. (Through NHS).

Yeah don't do that! I do actually have an NHS dentist but I would never use them for anythign advanced (well I might but I would pay), NHS treatment comes with a lot of "poundland dentistry", yes it suck, no we should not have to pay but it is what it is.

All I would say is with your unsureness if you want to proceed go for a no win no fee, but be sure to understand the terms and conditions. (mainly you have to cooperate with them and you absolutely cannot pull out of the claim ever unless you want to pay £10k+ costs (and it may go on for 5+ years)).

Mimim_2

Yes, it does sound like a coincidence. But it is the second time when something like that happened to him but the very first one was 5 years ago and we decide to not complain and it was treated by a private dentist.
Another dentist took over and save the tooth. She also said when opens a tooth that another couple of days and he could be dead. 😪

This is the first time we decide to go forward with it as we are not sure if he will still save this tooth at that stage.

Undervalued

Mimim_2 said:

Hi!
I'm quite upset and nervous because I have to ask for advice. I've never done anything like that before and am not quite sure if I where I should start. 

Let me explain this situation...

My partner starts his root canal treatment with the dentist on 27th May. (Through NHS).
The tooth has been opened cleaned and treated to kill nerves. Then the next appointment has been made for the end of June (4 weeks after) to complete treatment and this was already a bit worrying. But In the meantime......
14th June we come back as filing fall out 😪 he develops infection (2 antibiotics prescribed followed with temporary filling by other dentists as a dentist who starts his treatment been off.)
Straight after that visit, he develops symptoms high-temperature dizziness and headache pain in his ears, and loss of hearing in one ear for a couple of days. 16th June has been diagnosed with labyrinthitis by our GP. This effect his balance, he felt dizzy and been unable to stand straight.
He has been alright for a week, recovered and...
Then a week before his second appointment (30 June) he had a throat infection (tonsillitis) he needs antibiotics for it as well and has to reschedule his appointment (the practice reschedule his appointment for a month and a half forward! 11th August). 
Since this tooth been touched in May he felt discomfort and pain, been feeling like is 'pumping' inside (pulse-like sensation). 
On 2 august.. The week before his appointment he developed another infection in this tooth he had been swollen on the side and in pain over the weekend. (As 111 does not have any available emergency appointments).
On 2nd August he has been seen by other dentists in different practices as no dentist has been available in our 😑 
Another antibiotic was prescribed.. 
Antibiotic work and cleared infection before the appointment. 
On 11th August dentist opened his tooth and cleaned it inside and insert something in to kill nerves again. Straight after this appointment,, he complains about something 'not feeling right' (his gums felt weird, like too soft).
He is booked in again in 2 weeks on 24th August. Today (3 days after treatment he noticed a spot on his gums (where injections were done). He noticed something like a lump with liquid and its burst shortly after with yellow and bloody discharge (tooth abscess). 

I'm very concerned now and I do believe it's all can be classified as dental negligent treatment. I strongly believe all these infections after his first appointment are related to his tooth. He has been unable to start a new job because of several infections. His treatment has been delayed and caused him more problems, extending his recovery time. He has been in pain and discomfort for months. This does not sound right to me at all.
 
I would like to ask where to go and when to handle the complaint. (Now or after treatment has been completed?). Seen a lot of adverts about doing a claim against a dentist but never did even one anywhere and never against anyone soo not sure how this works. 


Any advice will be much appreciated. 
TY  

He would need an expert opinion to confirm what the problem is / was and also whether it was anybody's fault.

Just because a procedure has gone wrong (if indeed it has) doesn't automatically mean the treatment was negligent. It would depend on whether the original dentist had followed proper procedure and worked with the degree of skill and care that could reasonable be expected.

Toothsmith

Mimim_2 said:

Hi!
I'm quite upset and nervous because I have to ask for advice. I've never done anything like that before and am not quite sure if I where I should start. 

Let me explain this situation...

My partner starts his root canal treatment with the dentist on 27th May. (Through NHS).

Ok, well a root canal means that the tooth has died or is severely diseased already. This is not the fault of the dentist. The dentist is just trying to fix it for your partner, and it is never a straight forward procedure. It can fail, and it can suffer complications during treatment. The alternative is having the tooth out. 

The tooth has been opened cleaned and treated to kill nerves. Then the next appointment has been made for the end of June (4 weeks after) to complete treatment and this was already a bit worrying. 

Not really worrying. It's very trying times in all medical services at the moment. The first stage is the one that can stabilise things, there shouldn't be much problem waiting 4 weeks between appointments. 

But In the meantime......
14th June we come back as filing fall out 😪 he develops infection (2 antibiotics prescribed followed with temporary filling by other dentists as a dentist who starts his treatment been off.)

Temporary fillings can fall out. It seems like the practice managed to see him in a timely manner though. Original dentist being off isn't an unusual incident. Could be many reasons for this. There is a nasty bug going round at the moment. 


Straight after that visit, he develops symptoms high-temperature dizziness and headache pain in his ears, and loss of hearing in one ear for a couple of days. 16th June has been diagnosed with labyrinthitis by our GP. This effect his balance, he felt dizzy and been unable to stand straight.

This will be absolutely nothing to do with the dentistry


He has been alright for a week, recovered and...
Then a week before his second appointment (30 June) he had a throat infection (tonsillitis) he needs antibiotics for it as well and has to reschedule his appointment (the practice reschedule his appointment for a month and a half forward! 11th August). 

This is nothing to do with the dentistry, but if he had to cancel his appointment, then you knew it would be quite a wait until another one could be made. This is not your fault, but neither is it theirs.

Since this tooth been touched in May he felt discomfort and pain, been feeling like is 'pumping' inside (pulse-like sensation). 
On 2 august.. The week before his appointment he developed another infection in this tooth he had been swollen on the side and in pain over the weekend. (As 111 does not have any available emergency appointments).
On 2nd August he has been seen by other dentists in different practices as no dentist has been available in our 😑 
Another antibiotic was prescribed.. 
Antibiotic work and cleared infection before the appointment. 

Well that is how the system works. First place didn't have a spare appointment as they were very busy, you were seen at another & sorted out. 

On 11th August dentist opened his tooth and cleaned it inside and insert something in to kill nerves again. Straight after this appointment,, he complains about something 'not feeling right' (his gums felt weird, like too soft).
He is booked in again in 2 weeks on 24th August. Today (3 days after treatment he noticed a spot on his gums (where injections were done). He noticed something like a lump with liquid and its burst shortly after with yellow and bloody discharge (tooth abscess). 

Ok. Not ideal, but then the treatment has gone on for a bit longer than it should, and if it's reacting to treatment like this, then it may well be that it was a bit too broken to try and fix in the first place. 

I'm very concerned now and I do believe it's all can be classified as dental negligent treatment. I strongly believe all these infections after his first appointment are related to his tooth. He has been unable to start a new job because of several infections. His treatment has been delayed and caused him more problems, extending his recovery time. He has been in pain and discomfort for months. This does not sound right to me at all.

The problems with his tooth will be related to his tooth, the ear & tonsil problems will not. It is very easy with the hindsight-o-scope to say that probably the tooth should have been taken out in the first place, but maybe your partner really wanted to save his tooth, and the dentist wanted to help him out? 
 
I would like to ask where to go and when to handle the complaint. (Now or after treatment has been completed?). Seen a lot of adverts about doing a claim against a dentist but never did even one anywhere and never against anyone soo not sure how this works. 

In the first instance you should put any complaint you have in writing to the practice. Give them a chance to respond, and with that there should be a copy of their complaints policy which will detail how you can take you claim forwards if you are not happy with their response. 


Any advice will be much appreciated. 
TY  

I've written my thoughts on your various points in bold within your quote