Study suggests many Britons could claim compensation for medical negligence

JamesBooker
April 30, 2013

Dentists often provide a valuable service, helping us maintain oral hygiene and preventing us from suffering problems such as gum disease. However, despite these benefits, many of us do not enjoy visiting these professionals.

According to the NHS, one in every four Britons could have a phobia of dentists. Therefore, approximately 25% of the population may refrain from visiting these professionals – an action which could lead to severe dental problems.

These people may fear dentists for a variety of reasons, perhaps they previously suffered bad practice, worry about treatments resulting in pain, or associate dentistry with n unpleasant childhood experience. Fortunately, if a person suffers from a phobia of dentists, the NHS can recommend several methods which could help them deal with their fears.

Eventually, when these people decide to visit a dentist, they should receive excellent standards of care and realise that their worries were unfounded. Sadly, the results of a study, published in 2011 and conducted by UK consumer group Which?, suggest many dental practitioners are failing to adhere to professional standards.

The researchers visited 20 practices within the UK, suffering from a variety of dental problems. After receiving treatment, their experiences were evaluated. Unfortunately, more than 50% of the visits were described as “poor” or “very poor”.

Some of the dentists failed to carry out actions such as basic examinations, provide suitable treatment plans, or spend adequate amounts of time with their patients. It appears that several of the researchers were suffering from problems where X-rays were necessary, but – in approximately 25% of cases – practitioners did not offer this service.

Which? highlights the case of one private dentist who communicated poorly with the researcher, failed to conduct important health checks, did not provide an appropriate treatment plan – and only saw the patient for seven minutes.

Rather worryingly, none of the undercover investigations yielded “excellent” results – only three received a “good” rating.

These findings suggest that many Britons could have visited dental practices hoping to have their problems resolved – instead they might have received poor standards of care, and this might have caused their ailments to deteriorate.

Therefore, in this situation, they might be entitled to make a medical negligence claim through the services of an experienced law firm – such as Seth Lovis & Co.

Our clinical negligence solicitors have a wealth of experience in helping victims of poor dental practice claim compensation. For more information about our services, please click here to visit our website.