Something went badly wrong at your dental appointment. Maybe a healthy tooth was extracted, or you suffered an avoidable infection. Maybe a condition your dentist should have spotted months ago has now become serious. Whatever happened, you’re now left wondering whether the dentist’s mistake counts as dental negligence, and if you’re entitled to compensation.
This guide covers some of the most common situations that are classed as dental negligence in the UK. But speaking to a solicitor is the best way to find out if you have a dental negligence claim. Contact TJL for a free, no-obligation assessment.
Dental negligence isn’t just a bad experience at the dentist. For something to be classed as dental negligence, three things need to be true:
Your dentist owed you a duty of care. Every registered dental professional owes their patients a duty of care the moment they start treating them.
They breached the duty of care. This means the treatment your dentist delivered fell below the standard you’d expect from a competent dentist in the same situation. The law uses something called the Bolam test to measure this. The standard is simple: would a competent dentist have done the same thing? If not, there may have been a breach of duty.
That breach caused you harm. The substandard treatment resulted in injury, further dental treatments, or financial loss you wouldn’t otherwise have suffered.
All three need to be established to have a legal claim. A poor outcome alone, even if genuinely upsetting, doesn’t automatically mean that a dentist was negligent. Negligence only arises when the dentist fell below the standard expected of them.
Yes, and this is one of the clearest examples of dental negligence. Extracting a healthy tooth that didn’t need to come out, or removing the wrong tooth entirely, is difficult to defend.
The consequences of wrong tooth removal can be significant for a patient. Losing a healthy tooth can affect your bite, your appearance, your long-term dental health, and even the way you speak. And corrective treatment, such as a bridge or implant to replace the lost tooth, adds considerable costs on top of the trauma of what happened.
Even where the right tooth was removed, but the procedure itself was carried out negligently, causing avoidable complications such as nerve damage, you may have grounds to claim.
Yes, in some cases, you can claim. Poorly executed fillings and failed root canal treatment are two of the most common types of dental negligence. A negligently placed filling might leave decay behind in the tooth, cause bite problems, damage the tooth structure, or simply fall out prematurely due to poor technique. This can lead to ongoing pain and discomfort, and the need for further treatment.
Root canal treatment requires precision and skill. Common examples of negligent root canal treatment include:
The consequences of a failed root canal can include persistent infection and ongoing pain. You might even lose the tooth. If a dentist is responsible due to poor technique or carelessness, you could be entitled to compensation.
It can be, but not every post-treatment infection is negligence. Some infections occur even when a dentist has followed all the correct procedures. But an infection caused by a failure to sterilise instruments properly, or by a dentist who failed to identify and treat an existing infection before carrying out a procedure, may amount to negligence.
If you developed a serious infection after dental work, like one requiring antibiotics or hospital treatment, it’s worth discussing with a solicitor whether you have a claim.
Yes, you may be able to. Dentists are trained to identify conditions that patients cannot feel or see in the early stages. A failure to spot something a competent dentist should have spotted, allowing a condition to worsen, can constitute dental negligence.
The most serious example is oral cancer. Dentists are expected to check for signs of oral cancer at every routine check-up. Missing the signs, or failing to refer you promptly, can allow the cancer to progress. At a more advanced stage, treatment becomes more challenging. Failure to detect oral cancer could even shorten a patient’s life expectancy.
Gum disease is another commonly missed diagnosis. Caught early, it can be managed. But if a dentist repeatedly misses the signs or fails to provide a treatment plan after identifying gum disease, they may be liable for the tooth loss that typically follows.
Failing to spot tooth decay, misreading X-rays, or misdiagnosing a condition and providing the wrong treatment can all provide grounds for a claim.
In all of these cases, the question is the same: would a competent dentist have spotted what your dentist missed? If so, you may have a dental negligence claim.
Yes, just like all other dental treatment. The duty of care your dentist owes you applies equally to cosmetic treatment. Having a veneer or bridge fitted for cosmetic reasons doesn’t reduce your legal rights if something goes wrong.
Cosmetic dental negligence can include veneers placed without proper assessment of your bite or gum health, crowns that damage the adjacent teeth, or treatment carried out without explaining the risks to you properly.
Composite bonding is a particularly current example. The General Dental Council (GDC) recently published a warning to dentists about how composite bonding is being marketed to patients. The GDC specifically challenges the common claim that it is reversible. Where patients have been misled and suffered harm as a result, a claim can arise.
There’s one important caveat: an aesthetic result that fell short of your expectations alone is not negligence. Let’s say a whitening treatment didn’t produce the result you wanted. That’s unlikely to constitute negligence unless the treatment was carried out below standard.
Yes, if your dentist acted negligently. Wisdom tooth removal is one of the most common procedures carried out in dental practices, and it carries recognised risks. But those risks don’t prevent a claim if the extraction was carried out carelessly and below standard.
Wisdom teeth negligence claims often involve nerve damage. This may mean numbness or altered sensation in the lip, tongue, or chin that persists long after the extraction. While some temporary nerve discomfort is a known risk of the procedure, lasting nerve damage caused by poor technique is a different matter.
Other issues that can arise from negligent wisdom tooth removal include dry socket, damage to adjacent teeth, or a jaw fracture caused by the use of excessive force.
Yes, dental implant negligence is something you may be able to claim for. Dental implants are a specialist procedure, and the consequences of getting them wrong can severely impact your life. Negligent implant placement can cause nerve damage, implant failure, infection, and the need for costly corrective treatment.
Common examples of dental implant negligence include:
We have handled implant cases where patients paid significant sums for treatment that was poorly planned and poorly executed.
Many patients don’t realise that failing to explain the risks before a procedure can give rise to a claim all on its own. Your dentist should explain what any procedure involves before it goes ahead. That means not only the realistic risks, but also what your alternatives are. They should also tell you what may happen if you choose not to go ahead with the treatment.
You may even have grounds to claim despite signing a consent form. Signing doesn’t mean your dentist properly explained the treatment risks. What counts is whether that conversation took place before the procedure. This obligation applies to cosmetic and NHS treatment alike.
Some situations don’t amount to negligence, even if the outcome wasn’t what you expected or the treatment failed:
TJL isn’t a general practice that takes on the odd dental case. Dental negligence is a core part of what we do, and has been for over 25 years. In that time, we’ve recovered more than £43 million for clients and built a track record of winning over 95% of the cases we take on.
When you come to us, you’re speaking to solicitors who know what a strong dental negligence case looks like. They understand what evidence to gather, and which arguments hold up during negotiations and at court.
We arrange independent expert reports and manage the legal process from beginning to end, leaving you free to heal. Everything is handled in-house, and nothing is passed to a call centre or outsourced.
And you don’t have any financial risks, as all dental negligence claims at TJL are handled on a no-win-no-fee basis. You pay nothing upfront, and finding out whether you have a case is free.
Contact TJL today to find out whether you have a compensation claim.
In most cases, you have three years to bring a claim under the Limitation Act 1980. The time limit runs from the date of the negligent treatment, or may run from the date you first realised something had gone wrong, whichever is later. This is known as the date of knowledge. There are specific extensions for children and for those who lacked mental capacity during the three-year period.
Yes. Whether you receive NHS or private dental treatment, your dentist owes you a duty of care. If the treatment you received fell below the standard expected of a reasonably competent dental professional and this caused you avoidable harm, you may be able to make a dental negligence claim.
For NHS dental treatment carried out at a dental practice, a claim would usually be made against the individual dentist and dealt with through their professional indemnity provider or insurer, as dentists working within dental practices are commonly self-employed.
NHS Resolution generally only becomes involved in dental negligence claims where the treatment was provided within an NHS hospital or other NHS Trust setting and the dentist was working for that organisation.
That doesn’t automatically end your claim. Even if the outcome was a recognised risk, the treatment itself may have been carried out below standard. And if you were never properly warned about that risk before the procedure, you may have a claim based on failure to obtain informed consent.
Yes. Dental negligence claims can include psychological harm. This covers dental phobia developed after a traumatic experience or distress caused by visible damage to your teeth or appearance. These damages can form part of your overall compensation.
No. A complaint to the practice or to the NHS doesn’t affect your legal right to claim compensation. In some cases, what the practice said in response to your complaint may be useful evidence. You can bring a legal claim without having complained first.
August 26, 2026
TJL Solicitors LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales (registered number: OC367616) and is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA Number: 564906). Registered office: Washbrook House, Lancastrian Office Centre, Talbot Road, Manchester, England, M32 0FP. A list of our partners can be found here. We use the word partner to refer to a member of the LLP.
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