£17,500 for victim of dental malpractice

“After two injections to numb my mouth, the dentist cut away some of my gum before drilling away some jaw bone. She then proceeded to pull at my tooth for an hour or so. While she was attempting to remove the tooth I felt immense pain and pressure on my jaw and at that time I thought I heard a crack. In the end, she gave up as she didn’t want to put me through any more pain and sent me home with painkillers and antibiotics.

“For the rest of that day I was in excruciating pain and the following day the pain and swelling was worse. I couldn’t eat and was still unable to feel my chin, lip and teeth.

“I eventually saw an emergency dentist who sent me straight to hospital where an x-ray showed a fracture in my jaw, which would require surgery. I was kept in overnight and put on an IV drip with antibiotics. I was also told the reason I couldn’t blink after the numbing injections is that the dentist had probably hit a nerve – and I was lucky the feeling had come back at all.”

In April 2010, Rosa was taken into surgery where her wisdom tooth was removed, with a titanium plate inserted into her jaw, leaving a scar on her cheek.

The persistent damage and dental intervention have unfortunately left Rosa with numbness in her right jaw, sporadic discomfort, pain, and regular itching on her face. She now has to avoid hot food and drinks as she can’t feel them properly.

Permanent damage deserved proper compensation

As she already worked in the legal sector, Rosa was aware that she had a strong case to make for medical negligence against her dentist. The botched tooth removal started the chain of events that led her to permanent scarring and numbness of the face.

Hannah Bottomley agreed, and sought to bring the claim of medical negligence against the dental surgery on behalf of Rosa. Hannah worked on Rosa’s behalf and in 2013 won £17,500 in damages to compensate for her pain and suffering, loss of earnings and bonus, and other associated costs.

Rosa spoke in glowing terms of her legal representation: “My solicitor Hannah Bottomley was amazing and built a great rapport with me, dealing with the claim quickly and keeping me updated every step of the way. I would definitely recommend the firm and would use it again should I need to.”