Dental negligence compensation is being considered as claim by a Somerset woman, after her dentist extracted the wrong tooth and then tried to re-plant it two hours later, after retrieving it from a medical waste bin.
Kim Green, 41, attended the ADP dental practice, near her home in Wellington, Somerset, suffering with intense pain caused by a rotting tooth that had become infected.
Rookie dentist Justin George treated her and mistakenly pulled out a perfectly healthy tooth instead of the rotten one.
On returning home, Mrs. Green quickly realized the mistake and contacted the practise, who summoned her back for more surgery, after telling her the tooth could be retrieved and re-planted.
That evening Mrs. Green was in so much pain that she had to be admitted to the Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, for emergency treatment to remove both the infected tooth and the re-planted one.
According to reports, Mrs. Green said that the hospital dental surgeon was ‘appalled’, when she had explained what had happened and immediately reported Dr. Green to the local health authority and General Dental Council, who promptly suspended him from his duties.
After being informed that her extracted tooth had been retrieved from a medical waste bin which contained bloodied tissues, saliva wipes and needles that had been used on a number of other patients, Mrs. Green is now seeking dental negligence compensation.
Mrs. Green, as a precautionary measure, has had to suffer the trauma of blood tests and a course of anti hepatitis injections.
Dr. George remains on suspension pending a disciplinary hearing.