Can I claim compensation for my Dental Injury?
Posted on 11th February 2020
The General Dental Council (GDC) has highlighted an increasing number of illegal teeth-whitening treatments being carried out by untrained beauticians, some of whom have allegedly been provided with false credentials in the form of “fraudulent qualifications” by the London School of Nails, according to a BBC report.
To perform these procedures, which can have significantly adverse side-effects, the treating practitioner must be registered with the GDC. Untrained practitioners who are carrying out these procedures without proper qualification and using potentially unlicensed medical supplies are causing a multitude of injuries including tooth loss, burns and blisters.
The GDC has prosecuted 126 illegal teeth whiteners since 2015, however, as they rely upon reports from victims of the process gone wrong, the number of improperly qualified practitioners is expected to be much higher than the 2885 reports made to the GDC in the last five years.
With the beauty therapy industry and the range of treatments expanding constantly and with many treatments still entirely unregulated, this is an area where things are likely to get worse before they get better. The teeth-whitening process is one of very few treatments where formal training is actually a legal requirement, however, the fact that this is not common knowledge may well lead many people to entrust their health to unqualified practitioners.
Contact our Injury Compensation specialists
Qualified or not, if you sustain and injury during a medical procedure, this comes under the umbrella of medical negligence. MG Legal, your local medical negligence solicitor, acts for many individuals who wish to make a medical negligence claim. Medical negligence is the legal terms for any procedure or course of treatment during which the standard of care falls below that of a reasonably competent group of practitioners. It can also occur when insufficient information is provided to you, as a patient, for you to make an informed decision about the treatment you are to receive.
Should the act of negligence lead to an injury, as the vast majority do, you will almost certainly be entitled to an award for damages commensurate to your injury. You will also be able to include in your claim financial losses such as, but not limited to, lost earnings, medication costs, treatment costs and care costs.
Another potential problem to be aware of is that many of these practitioners, as sole traders, using rented rooms or shops, can be uninsured or improperly insured. MG Legal, your local medical negligence solicitor, has pursued individuals who are uninsured and so, whilst it may be possible to obtain a Court Order against the fault party, if they do not physically have the means to pay the award, your compensation may be limited by this. Many individuals, with medical negligence claims and in general, believe that a Court Order is as good as the money itself. Unfortunately, if the “Judgement Debtor” as they are known lacks the funds, you cannot “draw blood from a stone” and so prior to commencing any treatment, it would always pay to check that the person treating you is both qualified and insured.
Should you believe your treatment was negligent, MG Legal, your local medical negligence solicitor, will review your case at no cost and with a view to accepting formal instruction on the basis of a Conditional Fee Agreement (no win, no fee agreement). Please contact MG Legal at one of our offices in Lancaster, Garstang or Longridge by phone, email, web-contact form or by dropping into any office.
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Tagged as: Accident Injury Solicitors, Garstang Solicitors, Lancaster Law, Personal Injury Solicitors, Your Local Solicitors
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