Dental Negligence Claims

If you have suffered pain and/or damage to your mouth, teeth, tongue or gums as a result of negligent dental treatment, within the last three years, you could be entitled to compensation through a dental negligence claim.

What is classed as dental negligence?

Dental negligence involves any type of injury or damage that is caused by oral health specialists, such as a dentist, orthodontist or dental hygienist. The most common dental negligence claims include:

• Nerve damage.
• Oral cancer misdiagnosis.
• Loss of teeth due to mistakes in treatment.
• Damages to teeth due to mistakes in treatment.
• Incorrect treatment, such as the wrong tooth being taken out.
• Restorative damage to teeth.
• Cosmetic dentistry errors.

Can I make a claim against an NHS dentist?

It does not matter if your dentist is an NHS provider or a private practitioner. If you have suffered due to their negligent treatment, you may be able to make a dental negligence claim for compensation.

What is the limit for making a clinical negligence claim?

The clinical negligence claims time limit is three years from the date you received the treatment, or three years from when you became aware that your illness or injury was caused due to the treatment you received. This means that you have to have either settled a claim for compensation or issued court proceedings within the three year limit.

There are exceptions such as cases involving children.  An appropriate adult (usually a parent) can bring a claim before they reach the age of 18, after which time they have three years from their 18^th birthday in which to settle a claim for compensation or have court proceedings issued.

The other exception being where there is a lack of mental capacity and someone else brings a claim for the adult, in which case there is no time limit to make a claim. Read our guide on making a clinical negligence claim on the behalf of a child for more information.

If a loved one has died due to clinical negligence, the three-year time limit runs from the date of death (so long as the time limit has not already expired). We appreciate that it can be a very upsetting time and we will guide you through the process sympathetically.

What will it cost me to bring a claim?

We are no win, no fee clinical negligence solicitors. This simply means that should we not win your case, you will not need to pay us a penny to cover your legal fees.

If you win your case your opponent will pay most of your legal costs.

Any legal costs not paid by your opponent will be deducted from the compensation that you receive. These costs include:

• The cost of your no win no fee insurance policy (After the Event Insurance)
• Some of your basic legal costs which cannot be recovered from your opponent
• A “success fee” which compensates us for the risk that if your claim was unsuccessful then we would not be paid at all.

Details of which will be discussed with you as the case progresses.

Read our guide on how personal injury claims are funded for more information.

How long will my claim take?

The length of clinical negligence claims depends on how long it takes to gather evidence, whether the other party admits fault, the severity of the injury and the extent of the claim for special damages. Straightforward clinical negligence claims may settle within 12-18 months, whereas complex cases may take several years.

How do I make a claim?

You can start the claims process by contacting our First Response Team on 0344 854 7000.

A member of our friendly team will ask you a series of questions to outline the details of your case. Your answers will be analysed by one of our clinical negligence solicitors who will determine if your case has good prospects or not.

Alternatively you can submit your details using our online enquiry form below and we will contact you at a time convenient for you.

Start my claim

TRUE Client Stories

Claimant receives four figure sum following negligent dental treatment.