The length of time a dental negligence claim may take will vary on a case by case basis. On the average however, dental negligence claims may take between one year and six months to two years. In certain cases, it may take longer than that.
Factors that determine how long a dental claim might take include;
- The willingness of the dentist to accept liability
- Time taken to gather necessary evidence
- Getting an independent dental expert’s report on the severity of injury
- Time taken before agreeing on a settlement fee, among others
Remember that for your claim to be successful, you not only have to show that your dentist owed you a duty of care. You also have to prove that he failed in that duty of care and that your injury or harm was a direct result of that breach of duty of care. This means you establish that if not for the breach in duty of care, you would not have suffered the injury.
Why Should I Make A Dental Negligence Compensation Claim?
Dental negligence claims refers to where an individual either the affected individual or a loved one, takes legal action against a dental health professional for being negligent causing the patient to suffer avoidable injury, unnecessary pain, emotional trauma or financial expenses.
If you think that your dentist provided you with poor dental care which has made you suffer unnecessarily, then you may have a strong claim for dental negligence.
Making a dental negligence claim can help to avoid a repetition of such mistakes. If you sue an NHS dentist, after the claims, the NHS tries to make proper improvements to improve service delivery and avoid a recurrence of such negligent acts.
The amount of settlement you receive as dental compensation will be commensurate with the financial expenses you have incurred as a result of the incident, the amount of pain suffered and severity of injury. It will also cover other expenses especially if you have to give up work altogether, further medical costs and other expenses so that you do not have to suffer financially as a result of the negligent treatment.
Our expert dental legal advisors will be with you and support you every step of the way until you get the compensation you deserve.
How Much Will I Get As Dental Negligence Payout In The UK?
The amount of compensation for your dental negligence claims is not fixed and will vary from one case to another. Your dental settlement payout will depend on certain factors which are unique to every case.
Our solicitors can however, give you an idea of what you can expect as compensation using our medical negligence compensation calculator.
Factors which determine how much you can get for your dental compensation include-
- Severity of the injury
- Site of injury
- Damages caused to you by the injury
- Emotional distress
- Financial losses incurred which can include loss of income, loss of pension, past, present and estimated future losses)
- Future Prognosis
- Expenses for medical appointments
The table below shows the average amount of compensation one can receive for various types of dental injury caused by dental negligence:
| Severity Of Injury | Average Amount Of Compensation |
|---|---|
| Loss of A Single Back Tooth | £910 to £1,430 |
| Loss of A Single Front Tooth | £1,840 to £3,300 |
| Loss of two front teeth | £3,630 to £6,380 |
| Loss of several front teeth | £7,320 to £9,540 |
| Gum disease | As high as £32,000 |
| Very serious facial scarring | £27,940 to £91,350 |
How We Undertake Dental Claims?
For our dental negligence compensation claims, our medical negligence solicitors will represent you on a No Win No Fee basis. This exempts you from paying us any legal fees throughout the entire negligence claims process. Also, you do not have to pay us even if the claim is not successful.
However, when the case is won, a 25% success fee will be deducted from your total award value while you receive the rest.
Time Limit For Your Dental Negligence Claim
As with other medical negligence claim, the Limitation Act of 1980 stipulates a strict time limit for making dental claims. You only have a three-year time frame from the date of the dental negligence or from the date you became aware of it to make a dental claim. If unfortunately, the individual is dead, this three-year time limit starts from the date of death.
The few exceptions to the rule are;
- Where the individual is below 18 years of age as at the time of the incident, a claim can be made even until the 21st of the individual. This is because the time limit usually activates when the individual becomes an adult.
- Where the individual is mentally or physically incapacitated and unable to make claims, this rule may not apply until the individual is able to do so.
However, in the above cases, the individuals do not have to wait for long until they are able to make claims by themselves. A close relation or next of kin (litigation friend) can make claims on their behalf. They will have to present a proof of authority or show that they are the next of kin in order to make claims.
Our specialist medical negligence solicitors are ready to answer whatever questions you may have and give you more explanations about how you can make claims on behalf of a loved one.
Our Expertise In Dental Negligence Claims
At Medical Negligence Direct, we have very friendly, dedicated, understanding and expert dental solicitors with many years of experience. Our solicitors have represented several people who have suffered from diverse dental negligent treatment. We are known to give our clients the best possible legal representation and secure deserving compensation amounts for them.
You can speak to us at no cost at all as our consultation sessions are free of charge. We are here to listen to you, support you and advise you on how to proceed with your claims.
You can fill out our online free assessment form or call us on 0800 644 4240 and we will reach out to you in the shortest possible time.
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