A DARWEN woman who will lose five front teeth has won a £27,000 settlement from the former Rishton dentist who failed to spot and treat her gum disease.

Danielle Green intends to use the cash to repair the damage.

Ms Green was treated by Dr Andrew Shaw, of Rishton Dental Practice, High Street, between February 2003 and March 2011.

By 2013 her dental health had become so bad her gums bled every time she brushed her teeth.

She then made an appointment with another dentist who told her four of her front ones and one further back would have to be removed.

Ms Green cried all the way home and in 2015 contacted specialist solicitors The Dental Law Partnership who took on her case.

The firm secured a £27,000 settlement from Dr Shaw who denied liability.

Ms Green said: “I trusted Dr Shaw and never had any reason to believe he wasn’t doing his job properly.

“Dr Shaw didn’t ever provide any treatment that helped despite my complaining. He never carried out any actual treatment for gum disease or did anything that made a difference.

“I started to think I was just prone to these problems because my dentist couldn’t do anything about them. That perhaps I’d just have to put up with them.

“When I saw a new dentist he told me I had chronic gum disease. He said my front teeth would need to be extracted or they’d just fall out on their own. It was soul destroying to hear.

“The whole ordeal was causing me a lot of stress. My gums were clearly bleeding and looked awful. You could actually see them receding. It was like my world was falling apart.

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“I was in my 20s at the time – far too young to think about losing my front teeth. When I found out I was going lose them I cried the whole way home from my appointment. To think it is all down to my dentist not providing appropriate treatment is unbelievable.”

The Dental Law Partnership’s experts examined her dental records which revealed Dr Shaw had failed to diagnose and treat gum disease that was clearly visible as far back as 2003.

A spokesman for Rishton Dental Practice said: “Dr Shaw is the previous owner of the practice. He left several years ago.”

The Lancashire Telegraph was unable to contact Dr Shaw.

Heather Owen of the Dental Law Partnership commented: “The distress and imminent tooth loss was completely avoidable. If the dentist had diagnosed gum disease and provided adequate treatment all her problems would have been avoided.”