Alan Ambridge, 75, a former Royal Air Force photographer from Bingley, was awarded £5,000 in compensation from a dental practice after two saveable teeth were lost due to tooth decay that was not properly treated years ago.
The compensation related to treatment he received at MyDentist Dental Practice in Halifax between 2013 and 2017.
The practice, located on Clare Road, was operated by Whitecross Dental Care Limited and has now been merged into MyDentist Broad Street Dental Practice in Broad Street Plaza.
Mr Ambridge said: “I had previously had a tooth in my upper left jaw filled at another practice, but then I fractured my lower right jaw and had signs of tooth decay. In 2013, I chose to move to a new dental practice in the hope that these problems would be resolved.”
However, things did not go as he hoped. “My dental condition started to deteriorate after that,” he recalled.
Over the five years, my treatments were up and down, some were just routine checkups, but some were excruciating. Life became very difficult because of this.”
He mentioned that he had been forced to take antibiotics to relieve the symptoms because of severe pain caused by a filling. “I went back to the doctor in November 2015 and the doctor recommended a follow-up visit in six months. But as dental expenses increased, I postponed treatment as much as possible until I had significant pain in my jaw again.”
Although the clinic eventually discovered the decayed tooth and filled it, Mr. Ambridge said the repair was not thorough, the tooth surface was still rough, and he felt very uncomfortable.
“I felt that they were unwilling to continue to provide me with treatment, so I chose to change clinics. After an X-ray examination at the new clinic, it was found that there were still multiple cavities that had not been diagnosed, indicating that I might face the risk of tooth loss in the future.”
In 2021, he submitted the matter to the Dental Law Collaborative. An assessment of his dental records revealed that the treatment he received was clearly negligent, and that earlier detection and timely treatment of tooth decay might have avoided the loss of teeth and the psychological distress it brought.
“I wanted to save my teeth, but every professional involved in the treatment let me down. It was a long, painful process that I still can’t get over to this day,” he lamented.
“You have to trust your dentist, but after this nightmare, my confidence in the entire industry has been shaken. I still don’t know what went wrong.”
Tyla Westhead of the Dental Law Collaborative said: “The pain our client has suffered could have been completely avoided. If more appropriate treatment had been provided at the time, none of this would have happened.”
The agency took over the case in 2021 and successfully reached an out-of-court settlement in January 2025 for £5,000. The dentist involved did not admit negligence.
A MyDentist spokesperson responded: “We regret Mr. Ambridge’s experience. Providing high-quality dental services to our patients is our core goal and we are deeply disappointed that this rare incident did not meet our standards.”
The spokesperson added: “The Clare Road clinic involved in this incident is now closed, the dentist involved is understood to no longer practice within our system, and a settlement has been reached with Mr. Ambridge.”
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