I am not happy with my dental care, what can I do?

So you’re unhappy with your dental care? What are your options? Most of all, you probably want to know what has gone wrong, why and what needs to be done to put things right. Sometimes the dental professional will explain that to you as a matter of course. Often they won’t.

If you unfortunately find yourself in a situation where you are unhappy with your dental care, there are a number of avenues open to you in which you can seek answers.

Complain to your dentist

You can seek answers through a formal complaints process; often we may recommend that you do just that, as a first step. Every dental practice will have a formal complaints process which they should adhere to. Whilst you may be able to seek some answers directly from your dentist, this avenue does not allows patients to recover treatment costs needed to put things right. On occasion, we hear of dentists offering patients’ refunds for the treatment carried out or offering to carry out the treatment needed, free of charge.

If your dentist does offer you a refund or offers to carry out your remedial treatment, we would advise you to proceed with caution and consider whether you have lost confidence in your dentist’s ability to carry out the treatment. Also, whilst a refund might initially sound appealing, this will leave you uncompensated for your pain and suffering.

NHS complaints

If you received NHS dental treatment and don’t want to complain to your dentist directly, then you can make a complaint to NHS England. The complaint must be brought within 12 months of your knowledge of the complaint. NHS England will then carry out their own investigations and will speak to the dental practitioner in an attempt to resolve the complaint. This avenue is not set up to obtain financial compensation for you.

General Dental Council (GDC)

The GDC is an organisation that regulates dentists and other dental care professionals in the UK. All dentists and dental professionals in the UK must be registered with the GDC. As part of the GDC’s duty to protect the public, if a dentist or dental care professional falls seriously short of the standards expected of them they can either remove them from the Register, or restrict what they can do professionally. These powers, are given to the GDC by Parliament, and cover all dental professionals whether they’re working in the NHS or in private practice.

You can make a complaint directly to the GDC, who will then decide whether there is merit in the complaint that requires investigation. However, the GDC is not able to provide you with legal advice in relation to the dental treatment you may have received. Furthermore, the GDC is not able to provide you with clinical advice, for example, whether you now need treatment to restore your dentition. Finally, the GDC has no powers to secure financial compensation for the substandard dental treatment.

Make a claim in negligence

If you are not satisfied with your dental care/treatment then it may indicate that you have received negligent dental treatment. In these circumstances, we would recommend you contact a solicitor who can advise on your merits of bringing a claim in negligence against the dental practitioner.

Instructing a specialist legal team like the Dental Negligence Team is the only way of ensuring:

• An independent expert dental view of what’s gone wrong and what the future prognosis is
• An informed assessment of what your financial losses might amount to in the future
• Appropriate and full compensation for your injuries (including pain and suffering)

Making a claim is a simple process, if you choose to instruct the Dental Negligence team. Whatever the nature of your injury, if it may have been caused by sub-standard dental care, the Dental Negligence Team can help.

If you have concerns about dental treatment, please contact the Dental Negligence Team, who will be happy to assist.