Bad Cavity Filling Claims Solicitors in Manchester

Errors that lead to a compensation claim include:

• Decay wasn’t fully removed: Proper cavity preparation means removing all decay before placing a filling. When decay is left behind, bacteria continue to spread, and fillings fail. Over time, this preventable mistake can lead to an infection or even nerve damage. 
• Wrong treatment: If your tooth needed a crown or root canal, and a filling was placed instead, you might have a claim. Your dentist should also choose the appropriate material, whether amalgam or composite, based on the condition of the tooth.
• Overfilling or underfilling: A cavity that’s overfilled or underfilled can cause bite alignment problems and pain. Your dentist should check your bite alignment to ensure the filling was done correctly.
• Pulp damage from incorrect drill depth: Drilling too deep or at the wrong angle risks pulp damage and injury to the surrounding tooth structure. While drilling complications can be unavoidable, specifically with deep decay, dentists do make avoidable mistakes. 

Infection from poor sterilisation: Instruments and the treatment site must be properly sterilised before a filling is placed. When they are not, infection can occur. If that’s happened to you, you could have a dental infection claim.

But a filling going wrong is not, by itself, enough. The question is whether it went wrong because the dentist didn’t do their job properly.

To succeed in a bad cavity filling claim, you need to establish that your dentist owed you a duty of care. This applies automatically once they agree to treat you. You’ll also have to show that they breached that duty by falling below the standard of care. And that breach must have caused your injury or financial loss. These three elements, duty of care, breach of duty, and causation, are the foundation of a bad cavity filling claim.

The General Dental Council (GDC) sets the standard dentists must meet. For a cavity filling, that typically means the dentist must:

• Identify the correct treatment
• Remove all decay before placing the filling 
• Choose appropriate materials
• Check bite alignment after placing the filling 

Your dentist is expected to do all of those things. If they didn’t, you could have grounds for a negligent dental filling claim. If you have a valid claim, we can handle everything on a no win no fee basis, meaning you pay nothing unless your claim succeeds.

Fillings eventually fail and need to be replaced, especially if they are years or decades old. The question is whether the failure came from substandard care or something genuinely unforeseeable. For example, if your filling failed because the cavity wasn’t properly cleaned or the wrong materials were used, the dentist is likely responsible. An independent dental expert can assess your claim by looking at your treatment records.

 But sensitivity that persists for weeks or months is not normal. It can be a sign that something has gone wrong.

The nerve may be irritated or dying due to a bad cavity filling, which can lead to pain and an abscess. Now, your options may be limited to root canal treatment or an extraction. 

A dental problem surfacing months after having the filling placed shouldn’t make your claim harder. Under the Limitation Act 1980, you have three years from the date of the negligent treatment. If the cause was the original filling, the three-year time limit to bring a claim runs from when you noticed the issue. Not from the actual date of the procedure.

Unlike private dentists, who hold their own professional indemnity insurance, NHS claims are handled through NHS Resolution. Some NHS patients hesitate to claim, assuming it will affect future dental care. But there’s no need to worry. A claim is against an individual dentist’s professional conduct, not the NHS as a whole.