Dental Negligence Claims – Average Compensation Payouts And How To Claim

Have the negligent actions of your dentist caused you to suffer unnecessary harm? Our panel of dental negligence claims solicitors could help you seek compensation. This guide will explain how.

We will begin by showing you when you could be eligible to make a claim for compensation. Following this, we share different examples of negligent treatments that could lead to you making a claim.

We will also explore what types of compensation you could receive following a successful dental negligence claim and what they compensate you for.  Finally, we will explore the benefits of making a dental negligence claim with a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel.

Keep reading, or if you don’t want to wait any longer, contact our advisors today for a free initial consultation with no obligation:

Woman sits in an examination chair holding her face in pain with a dentist nearby.

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Am I Eligible To Make A Dental Negligence Claim?

You can make a claim for dental negligence if you can prove the following:

  • A dental professional owed you a duty of care.
  • They breached this duty of care.
  • This breach caused preventable harm.

The first point is true if a professional provides you with dental treatment. All dental professionals owe their patients a duty of care, which means they must provide the correct standard of care. This duty applies to dentists, dental nurses, assistants, administrators, and anyone else who provides dental care.

If they fail to provide you with this correct standard, this could lead you to suffer harm that could have otherwise been avoided.

To see whether you have a valid case or to ask any questions about the dental negligence claims process, you can contact our advisors.

Common Reasons For Dental Negligence Claims

Below are some examples of incidents that could lead to dental negligence claims being made.

Wrong Tooth Extraction

This is when a dentist pulls out a healthy tooth instead of the one they were meant to. Wrong tooth extractions can leave patients needing twice as much dental treatment as when they first attended the dentist:

  • To replace the negligently removed teeth.
  • To remove the teeth that were supposed to be pulled in the first place.

A number of factors can cause them:

  • Miscommunication between patients, dentists, and their staff.
  • Inadequate referral between different dentists or organisations.
  • Understaffing or overbooking leaves dental professionals tired.

Unnecessary Fillings Or Root Canals

Some procedures are, in some cases, unfit for purpose or even completely unnecessary. Others may only be necessary because of previous dental negligence. For example:

  • A poorly fitted filling allows an infection to build. You have to seek expensive private surgery at short notice to prevent the infection from spreading.
  • A dentist prematurely prescribes root canal treatment without advising that you could try to save the tooth. You undergo painful and unnecessary surgery.

Surgical Errors

Like any surgery, dental procedures require careful work by highly qualified professionals. There are a great number of steps that have to be taken to prevent patient harm. For example:

  • During cosmetic surgery, the assistant applies whitening agents without checking your history for allergies. You have a painful allergic reaction that lasts several days, and you will have to undergo the same procedure again at a later date.
  • Your dentist injects anaesthetic into your jaw at too high a pressure, causing nerve damage that becomes apparent over time.

Oral Cancer Misdiagnosis

According to The Oral Health Foundation, 90% of patients diagnosed early with mouth cancer are likely to survive, compared to 50% if it is diagnosed later on. The earlier the cancer is found, the more likely you are to survive for a longer time. Prompt diagnosis is, therefore, key.

If your dentist does anything to delay the proper diagnosis of oral cancer, they could delay treatment or make your condition worse. At the least, a cancer misdiagnosis may cause you to need more invasive and intensive treatment. There are various ways in which they may do so:

  • A dentist misdiagnoses a tumour as an infection and prescribes the wrong medication until they realise their error. In that time, the cancer develops.
  • An overworked administrator at a dental surgery does not schedule a follow-up consultation. By the time the dentist catches this, the cancer develops.

Dental negligence claims are not limited to the examples above. So long as you meet the eligibility requirements described, you could seek compensation. Contact our advisors using the details at the top of this guide to learn more about making a dental negligence compensation claim.

Man holds his right cheek and has a pained expression on his face.

How Much Dental Negligence Compensation Could I Claim?

There are two kinds of compensation sought in dental negligence claims:

  • General damages for pain and suffering.
  • Special damages for incurred financial losses.

General damages are worked out by comparing your medical evidence against the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), a document that contains compensation guidelines for a range of injuries. We have included some of these entries that may relate to dental negligence claims in the table below.

Please note that the first entry has not come from the JCG.

HarmGuideline CompensationNotes
Multiple Form of Severe Harm plus Special DamagesUp to £250,000 or moreLikely to cover physical harm and effects on mental health, as well as reimbursing for loss of income and further treatment.
Damage to TeethUp to £46,540Several years of tooth pain with significant deterioration in overall condition, i.e. tooth decay or gum disease.
Damage to Teeth (i)£10,660 to £13,930Loss of or serious damage to several front teeth
Damage to Teeth (ii)£5,310 to £9,310Loss of or serious damage to two front teeth
Damage to Teeth (iii)£2,690 to £4,820Loss of or serious damage to one front tooth
Damage to Teeth (iv)£1,330 to £2,080Loss of or serious damage to back teeth
Fractures of Jaws (i)£37,210 to £55,570Multiple very serious fractures requiring prolonged treatment.
Fractures of Jaws (ii)£21,920 to £37,210Permanent consequences, such as difficulty opening the mouth, due to series fracture.
Fractures of Jaws (iii)£7,880 to £10,660Simple fracture requiring immobilisation.

You can also claim compensation in the form of special damages. This is for financial losses caused by the dental negligence. For example:

  • Dental and other related medical costs, including private dental treatment.
  • Loss of earnings due to time off work.
  • The expense of travelling to and from follow-up treatment.

Evidence will need to be provided when claiming special damages, such as payslips proving a loss of earnings.

Factors Considered In Your Claim

Various factors will be taken into consideration when your compensation is being calculated, such as:

  • What harm you suffered.
  • Whether you suffered by physical and psychological harm.
  • What treatments you require.
  • Your expected recovery period.
  • What types of financial losses you suffered and whether you will suffer any future financial losses also.

To discuss your case today and learn more about compensation in dental negligence claims, you can contact our advisors.

Can I Claim After Cosmetic Dentistry?

A dentist or dental practice owes you a duty of care if they provide dentistry for cosmetic purposes. The procedure involved does not have to be medically necessary. By providing care, they take on the duty that comes with it. If they harm you by failing to do so, you may be able to claim for dental negligence.

Examples of negligent treatment you may be able to claim for include:

  • Hydrogen peroxide ingestion.
  • Damage caused by allergic reactions.
  • Painful sensitivity caused by composite fillings.

To discuss the factors of your case today, you can contact our advisors.

Can I Claim Against An NHS Dentist?

You can still claim against a dentist who provides NHS services if you can prove that you suffered unnecessary harm due to them breaching their duty of care.

When claiming against an NHS dentist, they may be covered under a clinal negligence scheme. This means that your compensation would be paid through this. However, this only covers the work they provided under their NHS contract. It does not cover any private practice and may
not cover the delivery of NHS dental care in primary care dental practice.

Alternatively, if you are claiming against a private dentist, they will have insurance that they will use to award compensation to you.

Contact our advisors today to learn about the dental negligence claims process.

A child undergoes a dental work with discomfort visible on their face.

How To Make A Dental Negligence Claim

There are various steps you should take and that need to be adhered to when making a dental negligence claim; we have set some of these out below.

Evidence To Support Your Claim

In all dental negligence claims, you must provide evidence that supports your case. Some examples could include:

  • A copy of your dental records.
  • Any correspondence with the dental practice.
  • Photographs of the harm you suffered, such as an extracted tooth or swollen gums.
  • Contact information of anyone who witnessed the dental care you received, such as a family member who attended the appointment.

A solicitor from our panel could help you gather this evidence as part of their services.

Medical Assessments

If you work with one of the solicitors on our panel, they may arrange for you to attend an independent dental assessment. The findings from this assessment could be used as further evidence in your claim and be used to help calculate how much compensation you could be owed in general damages.

How Long You Have To Claim

Under the Limitation Act 1980, you have three years to begin a dental negligence claim. This can begin from:

  • The date the negligence took place.
  • The date you realised the harm you suffered was caused by a dentist breaching their duty of care (date of knowledge).

Acceptions to this time limit apply to:

  • Children under the age of 18. The time limit will only begin from their 18th birthday.
  • Those lacking the mental capacity to manage their own claim. The time limit will only begin if the claimant recovers this capacity.

In both cases, where the time limit does not apply, a litigation friend could file a claim on behalf of the claimant.

To know more about the deadline for making dental negligence claims or about how one of the dental negligence solicitors from our panel could help you gather evidence, contact our advisors via the details at the top of this guide.

A No Win No Fee lawyer reviews a pile of dental negligence claims on their desk.

How Legal Helpline Can Help You Claim

Our panel of specialist dental negligence solicitors are experts in their field, with years of experience helping clients with their dental negligence claims. They can:

  • Guide you through each stage of the claiming process whilst explaining any legal jargon used.
  • Gather the best evidence possible, saving you the task of doing so.
  • Negotiate a settlement for dental negligence compensation with your best interests in mind.

Furthermore, our panel work under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This is a type of No Win No Fee Agreement. This means you will not pay for their services:

  • Prior to the claim starting.
  • As the claim progresses.
  • If the claim ends unsuccessfully.

At the end of a successful claim, you will pay your solicitor a success fee. This is a legally limited percentage of your compensation.

To see whether you could work with a solicitor from our panel, you can contact our advisors today:

More Information

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Thank you for reading our guide on dental negligence claims.