Summary
Ms C complained that a dentist failed to carry out reasonable investigations to find the cause of her dental pain over the course of a year. She also complained that the dentist broke the root of her tooth and left it in her gum during the extraction of her tooth. We took independent advice from a dental surgeon and found that the dentist took reasonable steps to identify the cause of Ms C's dental pain, and that the delay was due to the time she had to wait for an appointment with a specialist. We did not uphold this aspect of the complaint. Whilst the adviser considered the tooth extraction was carried out properly, they felt that Ms C should have been advised that the likelihood of her tooth fracturing during the extraction was high, and offered a referral to a specialist to carry it out. We upheld this aspect of the complaint.
Recommendations
What we asked the organisation to do in this case: Provide Ms C with a written apology for failing to tell her that the risk of fracturing her tooth was high, and for not offering her a referral to a specialist to carry out the extraction. The apology should meet the standards set out in the SPSO guidelines on apology, available at www.spso.org.uk/leaflets-and-guidance.
Related reading
View Decision Report 201608382 as a PDF (10.98 KB) Updated: March 13, 2018