£14,500 awarded for substandard root canal treatments and failing to detect dental decay

Sophie Angwin, recently acted for a Claimant who received a substandard root filling to his LL7 tooth. After having the root canal treatment, the Claimant developed an infection at this tooth, which the Defendant prescribed antibiotics for. As the infection was persisting and not getting better with antibiotics, the Claimant sought a second opinion from another dentist and was told that the root filling had failed and ultimately the tooth had to be extracted.

Our investigations showed that the root canal treatment was negligent as not all the canals of the tooth had been filled and the Defendant had failed to tell the Claimant that there was a fractured dental instrument lodged in one of the canals.

The Defendant also failed to take regular dental x-rays and as a result missed decay at two other teeth, which led to the Claimant having one of these teeth extracted