Dental claims
For many of us, visiting a dentist is an unpleasant but necessary part of looking after our health. Fortunately, the majority of dental treatment is carried out properly and professionally.
Occasionally however, negligence in dental treatment does occur, with painful, lasting and at times, expensive consequences.
Dental negligence can occur in a number of ways;
A lack of relevant information
Dentists have an obligation to inform patients of all the treatment options available to them and the pros and cons, including any risks of the various options.
You may feel that your dentist did not explain things fully, resulting in you undergoing the wrong type of treatment, with adverse results.
Cosmetic procedures
Cosmetic dentistry might be described as any dental procedure that improves the overall appearance of your smile. Treatment involving crowns, bridges, veneers and implants have become increasingly common and popular. Teeth whitening is available widely.
Any such treatment should only be carried out by dentists with the appropriate levels of skill and experience. Like all treatment, the risks and benefits of the procedure should be fully explained before any work is carried out.
Problems associated with cosmetic dental procures can include damage to other teeth or nerves in a patient’s mouth.
Extraction of teeth
This procedure, one of the more serious that any of us might have to undergo with a dentist, is delicate and, with the best will and dental skill, can go wrong. On occasions, the wrong tooth is removed.
Problems that can result from tooth extraction include damage to gums and nerves.
Gum disease
The health of a patients gums are as important as that of a patient's teeth. It is thought that most of the adult population has gum disease to some degree.
Gum disease has been linked to premature birth, heart disease, blood clotting and strokes.
It goes without saying that the key is to have it diagnosed by a dentist as early as possible. Good oral hygiene and being a non smoker are essential.
A patient who attends his dentist regularly and is not advised of gum disease before damage is caused may have grounds for complaint
Root canal treatment
This unpleasant, but sometimes necessary, treatment is not one any of us looks forward to.
Root canal treatment is used to save teeth which would otherwise need to be removed. Root canal therapy requires the root of the tooth to be removed and the space (the root canal) to be filled to prevent infection.
Problems associated with root canal can be pieces of teeth breaking off, failure to properly remove the entire root or fill in the canal adequately. Failure to carry out the procedure may lead to infection and further problems.
Every NHS board has a complaints procedure and this can usually be found on the health board’s own website. If your treatment was provided privately, you will also need to make a complaint to the relevant hospital where your treatment took place. You should be able to find where to make the complaint via the website of the private hospital.
The importance of making the complaint
Due to GDPR regulations, to access this information from the NHS the request must come directly from you or a family member. We cannot be involved with the complaints process. The NHS is not obliged to deal with a complaint if the patient is contemplating legal action. We understand that making a complaint might feel daunting but the process isn’t as complicated as it may seem and is only a few clicks away. The complaint response is a useful tool in helping us to assess a potential claim.
The NHS has a duty to provide answers to you if you make a complaint within the appropriate timescales (see below), the NHS will investigate matters on your behalf before producing a written response. The timescale for receipt of a response may vary depending on the nature of the complaint. Once you have submitted your complaint and received a written response, you can make a clinical negligence enquiry and we can use the complaint documentation to fully assess your case and advise on the next steps. You can find out more about making a complaint on NHS Inform.
How to make your complaint
To make a complaint, you will need to contact the complaints department at your local NHS board using the NHS Complaints Handling Procedure. The NHS is obliged to acknowledge receipt of your complaint and to investigate it in a timely manner.
You should make your complaint either:
- Within 6-12 months of the date on which the matter which is the subject of the complaint occurred
- Within 6-12 months of the date on which the matter came to the notice of the complainant.
Complaints received after this period may be investigated if the health board’s Chief Executive accepts that it would have been unreasonable for the complainant to make it earlier and where it is still possible to investigate the facts.
Why choose Digby Brown?
Dental negligence claims can be really tricky to navigate but our clinical negligence department has many years of experience in this area.
Leading the team is Ruth Kelliher, Partner, who is a Law Society accredited specialist in clinical negligence. She has gained recognition from other legal professionals in the field from Chambers & Partners and The Legal 500. This recognises Ruth as one of the best in the industry. Trish McFadden, Partner, also brings a wealth of expertise having been acknowledged by Chambers & Partners.
Digby Brown is a proud member of Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA). Additionally most of our team, alongside Ruth, are recognised as specialists by the Law Society of Scotland.
Contact our dental negligence solicitors
Digby Brown has helped many people pursue legal action against their dentist over the years. If you suspect you have suffered injury or ongoing problems as a result of dental negligence, please complete the Clinical Negligence form in the first instance.
Please provide as much detail as you can. This will help us fully understand your circumstances and offer you the right legal advice and possible next steps.
No win, no fee personal injury solicitors
The expression “No win, no fee” is often used in personal injury cases. It is used as a way of funding a compensation claim where the accident victim does not have the means to pay for the costs involved as the case progresses.
A number of solicitors are prepared to handle personal injury cases on a “No Win – No Fee” basis but very few are able to offer their clients complete protection if the case is unsuccessful.
In that event, the client could end up being liable for many thousands of pounds in legal expenses or the case won't be fully investigated and therefore likely to under-settle.
Compensate 'no win, no fee' funding
Digby Brown has its own funding company, Compensate, which provides the funding to allow the case to be fully investigated, employ the best experts surrounding the circumstances of the accident and/or injuries sustained and where and if necessary go to court.
If for whatever reason the case is unsuccessful, Compensate pays all your legal expenses and those of your opponent – you pay nothing.
On average our clients receive over 3 times the pre-litigation offer
Because of Compensate funding Digby Brown's success rate is extremely high and on average our clients receive three times the pre-litigation offer.
In the event the case is successful, a small percentage of your damages will be deducted with VAT to pay for this service. The percentage which Compensate will charge depends on the degree of risk involved. We believe that this is the fairest method of giving clients access to justice whilst ensuring their cases are fully investigated, prepared and funded.
Don’t take our word for it, just read many of the court decisions and case studies on our website.
Beware of compensation offers which may be too good
We know you will have seen many adverts offering 100% compensation or telling you that you will not lose any of your compensation, however we believe there are a number of problems with companies that do this.
- How do they make their money if they don’t charge you anything?
- If they aren’t taking any money from you, the client, what incentive do they have to ensure you receive the right level of compensation, appropriate to the injuries you have sustained?
- Fully preparing a case, finding out exactly what happened and what the consequences of your injuries may mean in the long term, is expensive, how do they do this properly?
- If they aren’t fully preparing these cases will they just accept the first offer they are given on your behalf by the Insurance company?
- It makes simple business sense, the less work they do the higher their profit margin is - they simply have no incentive to work harder on your behalf.
- These adverts in the main are from English firms on national television which operates in a different way and therefore wouldn’t apply to a Scottish person.
We know from the many client cases we mandate from other firms of solicitors (in the main at the request of the client who is extremely unsatisfied with the service received for the other firm) that many shortcuts are taken in preparation and that the first offer received is being recommended for acceptance, regardless of the value.
Getting something for nothing is usually the first sign of poor service.
Correct level of compensation with Digby Brown
Our experience and statistics show time and time again we will achieve the correct level of compensation which will be substantially more than the insurer is initially prepared to offer.
Even after we have deducted our percentage as a success fee you will gain considerably more than you would have achieved using a 100% compensation model.
Contact Digby Brown's personal injury solicitors
We have offices across Scotland in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Kirkcaldy, Inverness, Aberdeen and Ayr.
For further information about no win, no fee, or anything else, call us on 0333 200 5925 or fill in our enquiry form below and someone will get back in touch with you.
0333 004 0958
Monday to Friday: 8am - 7pm
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