73-year-old Maurice Salter awarded £25,000 from dentist at Berners Dental Practice in Ipswich after failure to diagnose and treat gum disease
A Suffolk pensioner has been left too embarrassed to smile after his dentist failed to treat gum disease which led to him losing multiple teeth.
Maurice Salter has been awarded £25,000 from Dr Michael Fordham, who treated Mr Salter at Berners Dental Practice in Ipswich between 2002 and 2016.
During this time, Mr Salter suffered bouts of pain in his mouth and lost bone in his jaw and although gum disease was visible in x-rays taken by Mr Fordham, it went undiagnosed and as a result untreated.
“I’d been seeing Dr Fordham since 2002 with no apparent problems,” said Mr Salter.
“Although going to see him was never a particularly pleasant experience for me and I often felt anxious beforehand, I assumed Dr Fordham knew what he was doing, and I trusted him when he indicated my teeth were in good condition.”
The 73 year old visited the dentist a number of times for check-ups, scalings and polishes, but it wasn't until he saw a new dentist that the extent of his poor dental health was revealed.
“My new dentist took routine x-rays and immediately asked if my previous dentist had ever mentioned gum disease,” he said.
“I said no and he was very surprised at this, saying I had gum disease that had become so bad it had damaged the bone at my jaw and I would lose teeth as a result.
"The dentist could tell I was in a state of shock so he spoke to my wife to ensure we understood the severity of the situation.”
Following his diagnosis, things went from bad to worse for Mr Salter, who suffered with wobbly teeth which made it difficult for him to eat.
“Whilst I was anxious about returning to the dentist, I just hoped my new dentist would be able to help," he said.
"So far, I have lost four teeth and had a fifth extracted in order to regain any dental function. I’ve ended up spending so much money trying to get the problems corrected. I’d lost so many teeth I felt embarrassed about my appearance and stopped smiling.”
Mr Salter enlisted the help of the Dental Law Partnership, which took on his case in 2019.
The case has now been successfully settled after Dr Fordham paid £25,000 in an out of court settlement. He did not admit liability.
“I dread to think about the condition my teeth would still be in if I hadn’t started seeing my excellent new dentist – they’d be even worse,” Mr Salter said. “
"I continue to live with the associated embarrassment of losing my teeth. The whole ordeal has been a nightmare.”
Jennifer Paine, 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.”
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