A dental negligence case has led to a £20,000 payout for Courtney Monksfield, who was left with an unnecessary gap after a healthy tooth was mistakenly extracted.
Courtney Monksfield, now 20, from Faversham, Kent, was a patient at a dental practice in Margate between 2015 and 2018. In December 2015, her dentist advised that she needed two upper teeth extracted to rectify overcrowding in her top jaw and promised to submit a hospital referral.
However, her mother had to persistently chase the referral, which was only made in December 2016. Unfortunately, the referral incorrectly stated that one upper and one lower tooth needed to be removed.
Result of admin error
The mistake led to Courtney having a healthy lower tooth extracted under general anaesthetic in 2017. The error was discovered during a follow-up appointment. “I was so shocked when I realised a completely healthy tooth had been taken out. It was not a nice feeling and there were so many unknowns about what would happen next. I’d been left with a gap in my bottom jaw that shouldn’t have been there at all,” said Courtney, according to The Mirror.
After the error was identified, Courtney underwent additional dental procedures, including an operation to transplant another tooth into the gap and lower brace therapy. Despite these efforts, the transplanted tooth has suffered from infections and decay, making a future implant likely. “For three months after this transplant surgery, I experienced numbness in my lower lip, which meant I had to constantly drink through a straw to avoid dribbling, and also affected my diet,” Courtney added.
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