A woman who was left with ‘a tooth like a shark’ after a dentists blunders has been awarded £10,000 in compensation. Lauren Field, 21, developed a problem with a single tooth at the age of ten, when she first noticed a lump on the gum line; the adult tooth subsequently began to grow through without the milk tooth falling out.
The adult tooth started to grow horizontally out of the gum tissue because the milk tooth was not extracted, causing injuries to the inside of Laurens mouth when she was chewing. Lauren, a graduate from Bletchley, returned to dentist Dr Ashwin Bechar several times to get a referral to an orthodontist but was denied each time as she was told the milk tooth would eventually fall out. Lauren suffered a fall in confidence and developed ulcers as a result of the blunder.
When she reached eighteen, Lauren visited another dentist and was referred to a specialist for treatment. She called the situation ‘frustrating’ and is now worried that she won’t be taken seriously as she seeks employment because she has to wear braces – which would have been unnecessary if treatment had been applied earlier. Dental Law Partnership helped Lauren to secure compensation, although Dr Bechar says he does not agree with the facts put forward by the law firm and is limited in what he can say ‘because of patient confidentiality.’