Woman, 61, gets £45,000 compensation from bungling dentist after botched implants left her in agony for six years of agony and caused one of her teeth to fall out
- Gisella Gillett changed dentists four years after her implants were put in
- She was told the work had been badly done and the implants needed removing
- One of her implants fell out while she was shopping and she was in regular pain
A garden centre worker has won a £45,000 payout from a dentist after botched teeth implants led to six years of excruciating pain.
Gisella Gillett, 61, suffered headaches and repeated infections after her dentist performed work to replace old bridgework.
However, the treatment was so poorly done that one of her teeth fell out and her remaining implants had to be surgically removed from her gums.
She has now been awarded six figures in compensation after the dentist agreed an out-of-court settlement, having denied all liability.
Gisella Gillett, 61, suffered headaches and repeated infections after her dentist performed work to replace old bridgework
However, the work was so poor that one of her teeth fell out and her remaining implants had to be surgically removed from her gums
Ms Gillett first had dental work done by Dr Raj Mistry at Portland Dental Care, in Lincoln, in 2011 to get implants.
She said: ‘I had a headache straightaway but I’d never had a procedure like this before so I didn’t know what to expect, and thought maybe it was normal.
‘The dentist prescribed antibiotics, so I assumed those would help make the pain subside.’
However, the pain did not go away and within a month she went back to the practice four times to try and get it fixed.
Ms Gillett said she then had a root canal treatment with two different teeth, but the pain continued, so she went back to see them in 2012.
‘I still had severe swelling and pain where one of the implants had been placed,’ she said.
‘The dentist removed tissue from around the implant and placed what they called a healing screw, which only a month later came off.’
One of her implants fell out while she was shopping but the dentist pressed on with treatment.
She said: ‘Despite this I still started to go through with a second phase of treatment they’d recommended.
‘In hindsight perhaps I should have thought something was wrong, but you trust your dentist don’t you?
Ms Gillett first had dental work done by Dr Raj Mistry at Portland Dental Care, in Lincoln, in 2011 to get implants. She was left with swelling and pain
Ms Gillett has struggled to find a new dentist to repair the poor quality work she had done before she moved away from Lincoln, East Midlands
‘Then he ended up telling me I actually didn’t have enough bone in my gums to support further implants after all.
‘And this meant bridges would be the only option, which seemed a strangely quick change of treatment. Especially after he’d fitted implants before.’
Dr Mistry fitted two bridges over the months that followed but Ms Gillett continued to experience constant pain.
She said: ‘At times my mouth was inflamed and infected. Then one of the bridges fractured in September 2012, January 2013, and again in January 2014.
‘It was ridiculous and the problems seemed to be never ending. Finally, in 2014 I moved house, so stopped seeing Dr Mistry.’
The extent of her poor treatment was only revealed when she moved to Newent, Gloucestershire, and saw a new dentist in April 2015.
WHAT ARE DENTAL IMPLANTS?
Dental implants are metal pegs which are drilled into the jawbone for permanent false teeth to be attached to.
The implants work by fusing solidly to the skull and protruding out of the gum to where replacement teeth can be screwed or clipped on.
They provide stable support to stop false teeth or bridges – a small row of teeth – moving around or slipping inside the mouth.
Implants may be helpful for people who find ordinary bridges – which attach to existing teeth either side of a gap – or dentures uncomfortable or impossible to wear.
Some may suffer soreness, gagging or difficulty fitting other methods of replacing teeth.
An advantage of implants is that no other teeth need to be prepared or ground down to hold the new replacement tooth/teeth in place.
However, they are expensive and require perfect dental hygiene and regular visits to the dentist to maintain. If they aren’t well maintained or cleaned patients can get infections, bleeding and pain.
Source: Oral Health Foundation
Her new dentist said her implants and bridgework had been fitted poorly.
She said: ‘In 2016 I saw the dentist 13 times to try and get problems with the loose bridges corrected.
‘I also had gum infections and lost crowns. It was all making me so anxious, knowing that my teeth could fall out at any minute.
‘When the bridgework did fall out it left sharp bits of metal protruding into my cheek, which was extremely painful and made it very hard to speak.
‘Then another dentist told me decay had developed underneath my bridge – it was soul destroying.’
Ms Gillett had a ‘grossly broken down’ tooth extracted in September 2017.
This was followed by surgery in hospital under general anaesthetic to remove the implants that Dr Mistry had placed.
Ms Gillett added: ‘I will need to have more implants in the future. I am petrified of anaesthesia, so having them put in the first time was terrifying.
‘After this ordeal I’m having to have therapy to prepare me for the future work. It’s been so stressful looking for another dentist to correct Dr Mistry’s mistakes.
‘No-one wanted to be associated with the awful work he did. I feel so let down by the treatment I received. It was truly awful.’
She contacted the Dental Law Partnership who examined her care and, after launching legal action, Ms Gillett was awarded compensation.
Lawyer Heather Owen said: ‘The distress and pain our client experienced was completely avoidable.
‘If the dentist had carried out appropriate treatment her problems would have been avoided.’
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