Man wins £8,000 compensation after Northampton dentists fail to spot root canal on four separate visits

Andrew Fruish has been awarded £7,750 in an out-of-court settlement after Delapre Dental Care Clinic should have diagnosed his toothache as decay.

But instead, the Northampton music student suffered from persistent pain for nearly a year despite repeated visits to the dentists.

Mr Fruish first visited Delapre Dental Care, in Billing Road, in April 2014 after his tooth broke.

He said: “It was causing me a lot of pain, but it was filled and that helped subside the pain for a while. I saw Dr Piyush Patel for a check-up and apparently everything was in order.”

But in July 2016 Mr Fruish’s tooth broke again.

“It was really painful, especially while I was eating,” Mr Fruish said. “Dr Patel placed another filling so I thought that would be the end of it.”

Unfortunately, his problems continued into 2017. He had to make an emergency appointment in February, complaining of more pain from his lower right tooth. Another filling was placed, this time by a different dentist, but his toothache persisted.

Mr Fruish had to return twice more in April complaining of toothache. He was given antibiotics but no treatment to help.

“By this time I had lost faith in Dr Patel and the practice,” Mr Fruish said. “I didn’t think I was being treated properly so I went to a different practice to seek a second opinion. It was there that I was told I needed root canal treatment straight away. It was conducted over four sittings in May 2017.”

Mr Fruish contacted the Dental Law Partnership. Analysis of his dental records revealed that Mr Fruish’s tooth should have been diagnosed with decay and treated properly the first time.

The law firm say had the 47-year-old received proper treatment, he would have avoided months of unnecessary suffering and the four sessions of root canal treatment in May 2017.

“Those couple of months before the root canal treatment were horrible,” Mr Fruish said. “I was on codeine. I see a psychologist anyway, but I explained it all to them because I was suffering from the pain. Luckily, I’ve had no trouble since the root canal treatment and new crown I had placed.”

Tyla Westhead of the Dental Law Partnership commented: “The distress and pain our client experienced was completely unnecessary. If the dentist had carried out adequate treatment in the first place, all his problems could have been avoided.”

The Dental Law Partnership took on Mr Fruish’s case in 2017. The case was successfully settled in 2019 when the dentist paid £7,750 in an out of court settlement. The dentist did not admit liability.

Delapre Dental Care has been approached for a comment.