You can claim compensation for the injuries that you have suffered, as well as many other kinds of financial loss which the negligent tooth extraction has caused you.
With your injuries, the compensation you claim will be based upon two distinct aspects:
- The pain and suffering your injuries have caused to you; and
- What the injuries have prevented you from doing, or enjoying, in normal life.
For example, the wrongful tooth extraction might have caused you pain for a month (the first of the aspects above), but also altered the shape of your mouth in a way which makes chewing difficult. These long-term effects would be taken into account in the injury claim under the second aspect as your enjoyment of life will have been affected by the injury.
Financial losses
The wrongful extraction of a tooth will almost certainly lead you to incur expenses for corrective treatment.
These may include costs for:
- Removing the correct tooth
- Fitting dental implants (including expenses for their future maintenance – e.g. re-crowning them after certain periods)
- Treatment of any serious problems which a wrongful extraction can cause (e.g. repairing damage to sinuses).
Other financial losses can also follow easily from your injuries and your dentist’s negligent treatment. Some common examples would be:
- Travel expenses – For journeys made necessary by the negligent procedure, such as attending appointments for further treatment.
- Loss of earnings – Where your injuries have caused you to miss work or otherwise lose out on income.
- Care and assistance – Where friends, family, or healthcare professionals have been required to help you in your daily life.
These are just some of the losses which can usually be included in a dental negligence claim. In general, you can claim compensation for losses which have been incurred as a ‘reasonably foreseeable’ consequence of your injury.
