A woman has won a huge payout after a dentist ‘botched’ her treatment and left her in excruciating pain.

The 58-year-old nurse won £10,000 in compensation after she visited Pennwood Dental Practice in Warwickshire for work on her existing veneers, but disaster struck when the dentist recommended crowns on the teeth instead.

The nurse sought legal advice after the experience at her dentist in 2017 caused her ‘anxiety and paranoia’. Additionally, she had to take six weeks off work and ‘couldn’t think straight’ as a result of the disturbed sleep and pain.

Less than a month after she received the treatment, Ms. Jenkins suffered ‘swelling and inflammation’ in her mouth and she requested an X-ray because her teeth were sensitive to cold air.

Speaking to a news outlet, Ms. Jenkins said: “I was in excruciating pain, couldn’t sleep all night, and had difficulty drinking hot beverages. My palate was sore, and I had a fever.

“My teeth were also catching on my lower lip at night when I was sleeping, due to the crowns being longer in length than my old veneers.”

But after going back to the dentist to correct the issue, Ms. Jenkins was still in pain.

‘I suffered from repeat infection on that tooth and abscesses. The dentist re-did my root canal but I still felt like something wasn’t right,” she said.

Ms. Jenkins was referred to an endodontic specialist to reverse the damage but ended up spending thousands of pounds out of her own pocket for treatment.

‘I ended up with a crown with a bridge but in the future I will have to pay a lot for an implant,’ she explained.

Ms. Jenkins contacted the Dental Law Partnership in 2019 in search of ‘justice’. In July 2023, she was paid £10,000 in an out-of-our settlement.

“The experience dragged me down and I was so depressed. The clinic I was referred to was 40 miles away which was a struggle to get to, and I had to have six weeks off work in total because mentally and physically I was declining,” she said, reflecting on the treatment.

Ms. Jenkins explained she works as a nurse on a cardiac catheter unit so needs to be “really responsible,” but due to her condition, she “couldn’t think straight.

She said she now experiences “a lot of anxiety” about the slightest dental issue because of how she was treated by her old dentist.

Justine Jones of the Dental Law Partnership commented:

“The distress and pain our client has experienced was completely unnecessary.

“If the dentist involved had undertaken adequate examinations, and provided more appropriate treatment, much of the extensive remedial treatment Ms. Jenkins has had to undergo could have been avoided.”

My two penneth

I think it is concerning that a patient, like Ms. Jenkins in this case, can go to her dentist with a relatively minor issue, but come out worse off. Patients should be able to visit their dentist without fear and with confidence their condition will be rectified.

Serious dental conditions can be debilitating due to the severe pain, and physical and mental conditions caused. Patients who have experienced this type of treatment should be entitled to compensation to make up for their losses, as well as compensate for their time spent out of work as a result of the errors.