claim for dental negligence
Dental claims are different from hospital claims in one practical respect that changes everything about how they run: most dentists are not employed by the health service, so you are not claiming against a health board.
The standard of care
A dentist is judged by the same Scottish test as any other clinician. Under Hunter v Hanley 1955 SC 200, there must be a usual and normal practice, the dentist must have departed from it, and the course taken must be one no dentist of ordinary skill would have taken. Treatment that produces a poor result is not negligent if the technique and the judgment were reasonable.
What people actually claim for
Undiagnosed decay and gum disease
The commonest claim by some distance. Periodontal disease left unmonitored over years of routine examinations, leading to avoidable tooth loss.
Nerve injury
Damage to the inferior alveolar or lingual nerve during extraction, often after a wisdom tooth, leaving lasting numbness or altered sensation.
Failed restorative work
Crowns, bridges, implants and root canal treatment that fails prematurely, or was inappropriate for the tooth in the first place.
Wrong tooth extracted
Rare, indefensible, and usually settled once the records confirm it.
Oral cancer missed
Dentists are expected to examine soft tissues. A lesion not noticed or not referred is among the most serious dental claims.
Consent
Not being told of a material risk, or of a reasonable alternative, including the alternative of doing nothing.
NHS or private, and why it matters
Most dentists carry indemnity through one of the defence organisations rather than through a health board scheme, so the correspondence goes to them. Identifying the right entity, and whether the treatment was NHS or private on the date in question, is the first thing your solicitor will pin down.
Complaining is not claiming
The General Dental Council regulates dentists and can act on fitness to practise, but it cannot award you compensation. The Dental Complaints Service deals with private dental complaints and can direct a refund or a remedy, again without compensation for injury. If what you want is money for the harm done, that is a claim, and the two routes can run in parallel.
Time limits
Three years from knowledge
Time runs from the date you first knew, or could reasonably have known, that you had suffered a significant injury caused by the treatment. In dental cases this is frequently later than the treatment itself, because the damage becomes apparent only when a new dentist points it out. For a child, time runs from the sixteenth birthday, which matters in orthodontic cases.
What these claims are worth
Compensation covers the injury itself and, importantly, the cost of putting the work right. Remedial dentistry — implants, bridgework, ongoing periodontal treatment — is often the largest single element, and it is future cost rather than past. Get a treatment plan and a quotation from an independent dentist early, because that document does much of the work in the negotiation.
What to do now
- Ask both the original practice and any new dentist for your full records, including radiographs.
- Get an independent opinion on what remedial treatment is needed and what it will cost.
- Photograph what you can see, and keep every receipt.
- Do not accept a refund in full and final settlement before you know what putting it right costs.
A note on this page
This is general information about how the law works in Scotland. It is not advice about your situation and it cannot be, because we do not know your circumstances. Nothing here should be relied on as a substitute for speaking to a solicitor about your own case.
Tell us what has happened
We accept enquiries about personal injury and medical negligence claims. If you send us your details, we will read your enquiry and, where it falls within an area we cover, pass it to one Scottish solicitor practice that handles this type of work so that they can contact you.
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