A SWINDON patient left in agonising pain for months after bad root canal treatment caused him to lose a tooth successfully sued his dentist for £6,000.

Jordan Baverstock struggled to eat, felt self-conscious when around friends and clients, and was kept awake by the constant discomfort in his mouth after an inadequate operation which caused years of problems with his teeth.

It all started when the 25-year-old estate agent visited Pirooz Diba of Gorse Hill Dental Practice in 2013 after feeling some pain in one of his back molars.

Despite the treatment he received, his pain worsened and eventually led to the damaged tooth needing to be taken out.

His case against the dentist was settled out of court in 2019 after legal experts found that better treatment could have saved his tooth and avoided all that agony, but Mr Diba did not admit liability for anything.

The practice has since been taken over by new owners with different staff.

Jordan said: "I had been visiting Mr Diba for a number of years and I trusted him with all my dental work.

"“Mr Diba decided that a root canal treatment would solve the problem with my tooth. At the time, I was in so much pain and believed that he knew what was best for me, so I agreed to go ahead with it.

"I was left in agony after my visit, but I thought it couldn’t get any worse than what I had already experienced.”

But unfortunately, Jordan was proved wrong and, after several other visits to the same dentist for check-ups and other procedures, Jordan fractured the same tooth in 2018 and returned for another appointment.

He added: "I was about to leave for my holiday and was desperate to get it fixed before I jetted off.

"I was completely taken aback when my dentist told me that my tooth would need extracting, without exploring any other avenues..

“It was heartbreaking to think that I had previously undergone root canal treatment on the tooth, only for it to now just be removed.

"However, I trusted Mr Diba and at the time believed that I was in safe hands.”

But the removal of the tooth did not ease his pain or put an end to his dental problems as he was left without an implant in the new gap between his teeth for almost a year.

Jordan added: “Not only was it extremely difficult to eat but I also felt really self-conscious about my appearance.

"For a long time I struggled with my self-esteem because of my missing tooth. My job is client-facing and it reached the point where I no longer felt confident around my colleagues and clients.

“I felt completely let down by Mr Diba.; There is still so much uncertainty around my teeth that I feel incredibly anxious about. I am only 25 years-old, so it means I will have to endure more dental work long into my future.

"Now I try to avoid going to the dentist after all the trauma that this has caused.”

Mr Baverstock contacted the Dental Law Partnership in 2019. Analysis of his dental records revealed that the loss of his tooth could have been avoided if he had been provided with a good quality root canal treatment and crown in 2013.

Olivia Mounsey of the Dental Law Partnership said: “The distress and pain our client has experienced was completely unnecessary.

"If the dentist had carried out adequate treatment in the first place, his problems could have been avoided.”

Husband and wife Salil and Ruchi Sood took over Gorse Hill Dental Practice, redecorated and recruited new staff in February 2020 after the practice's previous dentist retired.