A retired social worker has been awarded £13,000 after suffering two decades of poor dental treatment.

Susan Alty, 67, was left with painful repeat infections, a loss of teeth, and at one point the left side of her face was sunken in.

Mrs Alty was awarded the money in an out of court settlement in August 2022 after her long-term dentist failed to spot her tooth decay. The dentist did not admit liability.

She will now require two implants with crowns, which will need regularly replacing for the rest of her life. Meanwhile, she will require root canal treatment and a crown on another tooth.

Mrs Alty visited her dental practice, in Chorley, for more than 20 years and had seen her dentist on multiple occasions where he provided a number of treatments that included repeat fillings, root canals, crown placements, and the extraction of a problem tooth.

She said: “The dentist had been my dentist for over twenty years and I trusted he was doing a good job.

“I remember having crowns over a particular tooth which I had previously had a root canal treatment on at the front of my mouth.

“I told him I was experiencing pain and believed there was an infection where the crown had been placed, but was told I didn’t have one.

“I eventually decided to go to a specialist dentist because the crown had fallen out leaving me with a large gap at the front of my mouth which became extremely painful, especially when eating, as food would fall in the hole and I couldn’t clean it properly.

“The new dentist took an X-ray to examine my tooth and noted that it had severe decay and had snapped at gum-level.

“I had a corrective root canal treatment on that tooth and another crown fitted.

“Unfortunately, I experienced further issues as it kept falling out. It then came to light that there was further structural damage to the tooth.”

Mrs Alty, who says she felt really insecure about the gap in her teeth added: “I felt reluctant to go out and socialise because of the large gap at the front of my mouth.

“After months of ongoing pain, I was told that the damage caused by my original dentist could not be undone at that particular tooth and I needed the tooth extracted and either an implant, denture or bridge.

“I was distraught as it had already cost me nearly £1,000 to have the crown out and I was on strong antibiotics for this.

“On top of this, the pain from the tooth had travelled up the side of my face and jaw and I still struggle with it today.

“It also came to light that the root canal treatment and extraction I had on one of my back teeth by the dentist was avoidable. This really upset me as I’m convinced that the left side of my face has sunken in as a result.

“I’m happy with my new dentist but the entire experience has been really difficult for me and I’ve suffered a lot of pain because of it.”

Mrs Alty, from Chorley, was awarded the money from her local dentist with the help of specialist dental negligence solicitors the Dental Law Partnership, who she contacted in 2019.

Analysis of her dental records revealed that if her original dentist had used reasonable care and skill, she would have not suffered the avoidable loss of two of her back teeth, the embarrassment due to large gap at the front of her mouth and painful repeat infections, alongside difficulty eating.

Kyle Padley of the Dental Law Partnership said: “The distress and pain our client has experienced was completely unnecessary. If the dentist had carried out adequate treatment in the first place, her problems could have been avoided.”