Unnecessary dental work left Henley nurse Susan Jenkins, 58, in agony
A nurse from Henley has won £10,000 in compensation after ‘botched’ dental work left her in agony.
Susan Jenkins, a 58-year-old nurse from Henley-in-Arden, was awarded £10,000 by her former dentist Dr David Pannell at Pennwood Dental Practice, Wolverhampton, after taking legal action.
During a procedure to have crowns fitted, her teeth were filed down too much, causing “excruciating pain”.
Mrs Jenkins explained: "I’ve had veneers on my upper right and upper left teeth for a long time. However, in 2017 they started coming loose. I asked my dentist, Dr. Pannell, for advice and he suggested crowns instead of veneers.
“In 2018, he prepared my teeth and fitted the crowns, however less than a month later I was suffering from swelling and inflammation in my mouth”.
She continued: “I returned a month later for an X-ray taken because my tooth was tender to touch and sensitive to cold air. I was in excruciating pain, couldn't sleep all night, and had difficulty drinking hot beverages. My palate was sore, and I had a fever. My teeth were also catching on my lower lip at night when I was sleeping, due to the crowns being longer in length than my old veneers. Dr Pannell suggested that I needed root canal treatment. I was concerned this might weaken the crown on my tooth, he said said it should be fine”.
Three months later Mrs Jenkins was still in pain. She explained: “I suffered from repeat infection on that tooth and abscesses after the root canal but I still felt like something wasn’t right. In 2019 just before I was going on a family holiday, and feeling unwell from my infected tooth again. Dr Pannell suggested some treatment options but I decided to wait until I returned from holiday before deciding what to go ahead with. While I was away my daughter-in-law said I couldn’t keep on like this, and as she was a dental professional, recommended seeing her boss.”
Mrs Jenkins was referred to an endodontic specialist and ended up spending thousands of pounds trying to reverse the damage caused.
Mrs Jenkins contacted the Dental Law Partnership in 2019. “I wanted justice. The experience dragged me down and I was so depressed. The clinic I was referred to was 40 miles away which was a struggle to get to, and I had to have six weeks off work in total because mentally and physically I was declining. I work as a nurse on the cardiac catheter unit and need to be really responsible in emergency situations but I couldn’t think straight due to my low mood, disturbed sleep and pain. I struggled to cope with everyday activities and social events and my confidence was really impacted. I now feel incredibly let down by my old dentist and have a lot of anxiety and paranoia about the slightest dental issue.”
Analysis of Mrs Jenkins’ dental records revealed that she had multiple avoidable root canal treatments and tooth extraction, and the issues she’d experienced were likely avoidable.
Justine Jones of the Dental Law Partnership commented: “The distress and pain our client has experienced was completely unnecessary. If the dentist involved had undertaken adequate examinations, and provided more appropriate treatment, much of the extensive remedial treatment Mrs Jenkins has had to undergo could have been avoided.”
Mrs Jenkins was recently paid £10,000 in an out of court settlement, although Dr Pannell did not admit liability.
