A Wiltshire man has been awarded thousands of pounds in compensation after his 'scary' experience at a Wiltshire dentist left him with years of pain and needing surgery.
Mark Shire, 58, from Marlborough had been a patient at Kerry Crescent Dental in Calne for many years, and he attended the dental surgery in January 2020 with a pain in his mouth.
His dentist, Dr Patricia Vergas Machuca Salido, chose to remove two of Mark's teeth on the upper left side of his mouth to alleviate the tooth pain, but as soon as the process began it immediately became apparent that something wasn't right.
"During these procedures, she had a real hard job getting the teeth out,” said Mark.
“I was in so much pain after the extractions and was advised that the site wasn’t healing well. A year later, I returned in pain and she just prescribed me antibiotics and cleaned out the tooth socket.”
Mark was left with chronic pain that affected his everyday life. (Image: DLP)
For the next two years, Mark suffered from severe headaches, a blocked nose, foul-smelling thick green mucus coming out of the left side of his nose and in his throat, as well as facial pain on the left side and left-sided headaches.
It wasn't until June 2022 that a hospital CT scan found a piece of Mark's tooth had been pushed into his sinus from the tooth extraction, and he was diagnosed with chronic, severe sinusitis and needed surgery to remove the tooth.
“The blocked nose made it hard to breathe, and I always had a horrible taste in my mouth from the pus that was draining," Mark explained.
"I often struggled to sleep and couldn’t go to work sometimes because the headaches were so bad.
“The whole experience was very scary.
“I went back to visit Dr Vargas Machuca in November 2022 to tell her what had happened as a result of her treatment. I had an x-ray taken but she didn’t apologise to me."
The tooth fragment that was pushed into Mark's sinuses. (Image: DLP)
It wasn't until he contacted solicitors at the Dental Law Partnership that any action was taken, and Mark's dentist was forced to pay him £8,400 in April 2024 as compensation for dental negligence.
The dentist involved did not admit liability in court.
“The distress and pain our client has experienced was completely unnecessary," said Heather Owen, from the Dental Law Partnership.
"If the dentist involved had provided more satisfactory treatment, his problems could have been avoided.”
Kerry Crescent Dental has been contacted for comment but is yet to respond.
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