Honeymoon disrupted by painful tooth after poor treatment

What happened

Mr J had emergency dental treatment for a temporary filling. He went to the Dental Practice a week later to have a permanent replacement filling put in.

Two months later, while on honeymoon overseas, Mr J had intense pain in the same tooth and went to a local dentist. This dentist removed the permanent filling and found a cotton wool dressing underneath. This had been left behind when Mr J's dentist put the permanent filling in the tooth. The cotton wool dressing had become infected, causing Mr J's pain. Mr J had to pay for treatment and medicine abroad, and he also suffered pain and disruption on his honeymoon.

Mr J complained to the Dental Practice because he thought that the cotton wool dressing was left behind when the dentist at the Practice put in the permanent filling. The Practice said this was not the case, and that the emergency dentist must have left the cotton wool dressing in place.

What we found

We considered it highly likely that the emergency dentist had left the cotton wool dressing in Mr J's tooth, as the Dental Practice suggested.

However, our Adviser explained that when a filling needs to be replaced, it is good practice to remove the whole of the temporary filling before replacing it. The records show that the dentist at the Dental Practice removed part of Mr J's temporary filling before he placed the amalgam filling on top. This is not in line with established good practice.

In failing to remove all of the temporary filling, the dentist at the Dental Practice did not check the work that the emergency dentist had done on Mr J's tooth. Without checking, the dentist at the Dental Practice did not know what the emergency dentist did when putting in the temporary filling.

Putting it right

The Practice paid Mr J £1,100 to acknowledge the failure to provide treatment in line with established good practice, the pain and distress that occurred as a result and the inconvenience of this happening during his honeymoon. It also apologised to Mr J for the failings identified.