Derbyshire gardener awarded £7,000 compensation after dentist 'failed' to treat tooth decay
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Kieran Bembridge, 30, from Shirebrook, received the out of court settlement from his local, long-term dentist after he suffered extreme pain and swelling due to undetected tooth decay.
The gardener had to undergo extensive corrective treatment with multiple procedures including root canal treatment and lost a tooth after his dentist allegedly failed to spot and treat his tooth decay that was visible in X-Ray images.
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Hide AdKieran has been awarded £7,000 in compensation in an out of court settlement this year from the dentist who did not admit liability.
He visited Dr Aikpologwihien Collins Atalor at Market Place Family Dental on Exchange Row in Mansfield between 2017 and 2019.
“Dr Atalor was my long-term dentist so when he told me I needed a filling I wasn’t particularly worried, it seemed fairly routine,” Kieran said.
“But I was slightly surprised when he suddenly informed me I had quite deep decay at one of my teeth as I had always been led to believe my teeth were in good health.
"He said I needed a filling close to the root of my tooth.
"But I trusted he knew what he was doing.
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Hide Ad“I was warned there would be a bit of discomfort after the treatment because of the depth of the filling but the pain was excruciating.
“I ended up having emergency appointments and was eventually told that my only options to stop the pain were root canal treatment or to have the tooth extracted.
He added: “It got to the point where the pain was so bad I was having trouble doing everyday things like eating and sleeping, my face was also very swollen.”
Kieran decided to have the root canal treatment recommended to him by Dr Atalor, but his pain didn’t subside and his tooth was also extracted.
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Hide AdThe gardener continued: “By this point I’d lost faith in Dr Atalor so decided to seek a second opinion with a different dentist.
"The new dentist indicated Dr Atalor’s root canal treatment was poor.
"It was very frustrating and upsetting to hear.”
Kieran contacted the Dental Law Partnership and analysis of his dental records revealed that Dr Atalor had ‘consistently failed to diagnose and treat decay that was visible in X-rays’, which resulted in the need for ‘avoidable’ root canal treatment which was performed ‘below a reasonable standard’.
“I haven’t been able to live my life properly, even missing out on work,” he said.
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Hide Ad“All I can hope for is that this kind of thing doesn’t happen to anyone else, I wouldn’t wish this experience on my worst enemy.”
Olivia Mounsey of the Dental Law Partnership added: “The distress and pain our client has experienced was completely unnecessary.
"If the dentist had carried out adequate treatment in the first place, his problems could have been avoided.”
The Derbyshire Times contacted Market Place Family Dental but they declined to comment.