DURING lockdown it was almost impossible to see a dentist.

Lucy Bodycote was no different, and in March 2020 she started to experience pain in an infected tooth.

She'd been having issues with it for years, and had seen a series of dentists between 2004 and 2017.

The 44-year-old was advised to go to A&E, but with coronavirus raging across the country, she said a hospital was the last place she wanted to be.

Taking matters into her own hands, Lucy, from Huncote. Leicester, took to draining a lump on her gum that had formed.

Now, Lucy has won £15,500 in an out of court settlement for what she describes as 'years of neglect' from dentists.

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When Lucy's issues first started nearly 20 years ago, she had multiple appointments with dentists.

Over a 13 year period, she was given multiple fillings and when she struggled with the pain, she was prescribed antibiotics.

However, this didn't seem to help ease her pain so the tooth was then extracted.

She also had another tooth extracted at the clinic after again experiencing pain.

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"I was in so much pain and after multiple emergency visits and rounds of antibiotics, I told the clinic I could not take it any longer and needed the tooth out.

"I had to beg for them to take my tooth out as I felt that was the only option.

"I had anaesthetic injections for the procedure, however, I could still feel everything.

"I was informed that I couldn’t have any more anaesthesia and remember leaving in floods of tears from the pain without so much as a follow-up call to check if I was ok," she said.

After the ordeal, the mum-of-one decided to go private as she was still experiencing pain with one of her top teeth.

Following the examination, dentists told her that she had multiple rotting teeth, a capped tooth which had been fitted incorrectly,amongst other errors.

"I was terrified of going back to the dentist after that can of worms had been opened up,” she explained.

Then at the start of March 2020, she started to experience issues with the infected tooth, with pus leaking out of it.

"The left side of my face started to swell up. I was prescribed antibiotics but as we were about to go into lockdown I couldn't get an appointment at my dentist and I was told the only way to be seen was going to A&E.

"The hospital was the last place I wanted to be with Covid so rife at the time so I was left having to drain the lump on my gum every day which was really unpleasant,” she added.

Now, Lucy, who works in the education sector, says she is 'deeply disappointed' in the dentists who treated her.

"I put my fate in their hands and they messed up so many of my teeth.

"After forking out thousands of pounds to rectify my damaged teeth, and having more teeth removed, I decided to contact the Dental Law Partnership to see if they could help.”

After investigating, they found that Lucy wouldn't have experienced untreated decay on five different teeth if the dentists had used reasonable care and skills.

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

The case was successfully settled in October 2022 when the dentists paid £15,500 in an out of court settlement. The dentists involved did not admit liability.

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