Alison Winterbot, 55, has been awarded a whopping £265,000 in compensation after being left with a constant burning sensation from a wisdom tooth removal procedure that she says wrecked her career
A speech therapist’s career has been blighted after a botched wisdom tooth removal left her in agony when she tried to talk.
Alison Winterbotham was driven ‘nuts’ by an almost constant burning sensation following the procedure in November 2020 that left her in excruciating pain whenever she tried to talk. The 55-year-old sued her dentist Dr Arash Sharak, accusing him of negligently failing to make clear the risk of potential nerve damage after her lingual nerve – which provides feeling to the tongue – was virtually severed. The operation itself was not alleged to have been carried out negligently.
Today (October 21), Judge Neil Moody KC ruled in favour of Mrs Winterbotham’s case – awarding her a whopping £265,000 in compensation to cover past and future loss of earnings. The hefty payout will also go towards costs of professional neck massages to quell the agony.
“Nobody will take this pain away, I’m stuck with this until the day I die,” she said in the witness box, reports Mail Online. “It’s like my tongue is on fire, that’s all I can say. Every time I move my tongue to talk a little bit, the nerve gets hyper-stimulated so that it makes the burning and tingling even worse. It’s worse when I speak.”
Barrister Camilla Church, who says the surgery had also had a ‘significant impact’ on Mrs Winterbotham’s social life due to the chronic pain she experienced, argued her client was not ‘advised adequately or at all’ when it came to the risk of nerve injury. “She was not advised as to alternative treatment by way of coronectomy, which would have reduced the risk of injury to both the inferior alveolar nerve and the lingual nerve,” she added.
A coronectomy is a dental procedure where the crown of a wisdom tooth is removed but the roots are left intact. However, Dr Shahrak, who is based at a surgery in Sawston, denied any fault and argued he provided all the necessary information required for Ms Winterbotham to make an informed decision. This included a document titled ‘Guidance Note – The Removal of Wisdom Teeth’.
However, in the judge’s ruling, he said: “In her witness statement, Mrs Winterbotham addressed the question as to what she would have done if she had been made aware that she was at higher risk of damage to the lingual nerve. She was certain that she would not have proceeded with an extraction on that day. She would certainly have requested a CT scan if this had been discussed with her, and she would have asked about having the extraction done under general, rather than local, anaesthetic…
“There was a negligent failure to warn and, but for the failure to warn, the procedure would not have taken place when it did. The relevant breach was a failure to advise that this was a high as opposed to ordinary risk procedure. Nerve injury eventuated and that was precisely the injury which should have been warned about.
The judge awarded £40,996.69 for past loss of earnings, £162,517.06 for future loss of earnings and £7,739.40 for future medical treatment, medication and therapies
