Dental Negligence Claim Calculator – A Step By Step Guide

By Stephen Taylor. Last Updated 20th February 2024. In this guide, we will look at how our dental negligence claim calculator could help you value your claim. If you’ve been harmed by a breach of duty of care at the dentist, you could be entitled to compensation.

When you seek attention from a medical professional, you’re entitled to a minimum standard of care and when this is breached, it’s called medical negligence. You’re also owed a duty of care when you go to a dentist. Dental negligence describes a situation in which the care provided by a dentist falls below the minimum standard expected from this profession.

If you’re injured as a result of a breach of duty of care, you could be entitled to compensation. You could also claim compensation if dental negligence caused your condition to be worse than it otherwise would if you’d received the right standard of care.

Our friendly team is available to discuss your claim and offer free legal help when you:

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A woman being treated by a dentist in the background of a scared woman.

Choose A Section

  1. Dental Negligence Claim Calculator
  2. What Is Dental Negligence?
  3. How Could Dental Negligence Happen?
  4. What Impact Could Dental Negligence Have?
  5. Evidence For A Dental Negligence Claim
  6. Connect With No Win No Fee Dental Negligence Solicitors
  7. Learn More About Using Our Dental Negligence Claim Calculator

Dental Negligence Claim Calculator

Payouts for dental negligence compensation claims can include general damages and special damages. General damages compensate you for the pain and suffering caused by the dental negligence.

The table below features some of the compensation guidelines included in the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This is a document that may be used by those valuing your dental negligence claim for general damages, as it lists various kinds of injuries alongside guideline compensation brackets.

The table below should be viewed as a guide only. Please also note that the first entry in the table is not taken from the JCG.

InjuriesCompensationSupporting Notes
Multiple Serious Injuries Plus Special DamagesUp to £250,000+If you have suffered multiple injuries due to dental negligence, then your compensation payout may cover each injury plus related special damages, such as loss of earnings if you've had to take unpaid time off work to recover.
Psychiatric Harm- Severe £54,830 to £115,730The injured person will have marked problems with factors such as their relationships with others and future vulnerability. The prognosis will be very poor.
Psychiatric Harm- Moderately Severe £19,070 to £54,830The injured person will have significant problems with factors such as their relationships with others and future vulnerability. The prognosis will be better than in more serious cases.
Damage to Teeth (f) Up to £38,130 Significant pain that could arise from issues such as untreated abscesses
Damage to Teeth (f) (i) £8,730 to £11,410Loss or serious damage to several front teeth.
Damage to Teeth (f) (ii) £4,350 to £7,630Where two front teeth are lost or seriously damaged
Damage to Teeth (f) (iii)£2,200 to £3,950Serious damage or loss to a single front tooth
Damage to Teeth (f) (iv) £1,090 to £1,710Where a back tooth has been lost. Settlement amount is per tooth.
Facial Disfigurement - Less Significant Scarring (d) £3,950 to £13,740Where there is one scar or a number of very small scars that mar the appearance of the injured person without affecting it markedly.

If you successfully receive general damages, then your compensation claim may possibly also include special damages. This compensates you for the financial expenses or losses you’ve experienced due to the dental negligence. 

For example, if you’ve had to take time off from work to recover from the harm you have suffered, then any loss of earnings you have experienced may possibly be claimed back under special damages. Other losses that you could claim for include:

  • The cost of further dental treatments.
  • Travel expenses to essential appointments.
  • The cost of prescriptions or any over-the-counter medicines.

Certain documents, such as bank statements or wage slips, could serve as evidence to claim special damages.

For more advice on how much you could claim or whether a dental negligence claim calculator could help, please contact our advisors for free today.

What Is Dental Negligence?

Dental negligence can be when you receive dental care that falls below the standard expected. These professional standards are described in detail by the General Dental Council.

All medical professionals owe their patients a duty of care. This means that they need to act in a way that stops them from experiencing unnecessary harm.

You cannot claim for any harm that happens in the course of you receiving dental care. Some harm is necessary for your treatment. For example, if you have a badly decayed tooth that needs to be removed, then this procedure will cause you pain and suffering. However, it’s necessary for the course of your treatment so you would not be able to claim.

Furthermore, you might experience unnecessary harm, but this not be due to a breach of duty of care. For example, a dentist might perform a procedure on you and you have a nerve in your jaw that is positioned differently from how it would typically be. Therefore, your dentist injures this nerve while carrying out to procedure in the way they were trained to do. If no breach of duty of care occurred, then you would not be able to claim for harm, even if it was unnecessary.

For more information on making a claim for harm caused by medical care, speak with one of our advisors today.

How Could Dental Negligence Happen?

Dental negligence can happen in a number of different ways. For example:

  • An infection from unsterilised equipment
  • Using the wrong tool for the procedure, resulting in nerve damage
  • Misreading the results of a scan because of negligence, resulting in the wrong procedure being performed
  • Taking out the wrong tooth in extraction as a result of negligence

Many people are nervous about dentists. If the patient’s trust is let down by deficient or negligent oral care, the psychological impact can be severe as well. Therefore, a dental negligence claim calculator can assess and include the stress and emotional suffering an error may cause also.

How Often Does Dental Negligence Happen?

While we don’t have statistics relating to cases of dental negligence, the NHS released figures on how many people see dentists in specified time periods.

In the 24 months leading up to 30th June 2020, 21.0 million adults were seen by an NHS dentist. 6.3 million children were seen in the 12 months leading up to this date.

44.5% of adult clinical treatments in 2019-20 were for a scale and polish. 55% of clinical treatments for children were fluoride varnish treatments.

What Impact Could Dental Negligence Have?

You could sustain a range of injuries if you’re harmed by dental negligence. For example:

Our dental negligence compensation claim calculator can include all these related expenses to you caused by the dental mistake. Speak to our team to ensure you accurately include everything in your claim the first time.

Evidence For A Dental Negligence Claim

A dental negligence claim calculator can help you confirm how much you could receive for the harm caused to you. Furthermore, it can give you an idea of the amount of compensation you could receive.

With this in mind, it can be advisable to gather as much evidence of you being harmed by dental negligence as you can. This could include:

  • Photos of the injury
  • CCTV footage (if applicable)
  • Witnesses who would be willing to supply a statement to a legal professional at a later date

Furthermore, it’s important that you begin your claim within the appropriate time limit for doing so. This is usually three years from the date the incident occurred. However, it could also run three years from the date that you connected negligence with your injury, illness or worsening condition. This is sometimes called the “date of knowledge”.

For more information on whether you have a valid claim for compensation, speak with one of our advisors today. They can advise you on how to use our dental negligence claim calculator. Furthermore, you could be connected with a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel; our next section will go into detail about what this means.

Connect With No Win No Fee Dental Negligence Solicitors

You may be interested in pursuing a claim and recognise the advantages of doing so with the guidance and support of a lawyer. However, you might be concerned about the upfront or ongoing fees you could incur if you choose to hire legal representation. If so, No Win No Fee agreements can help.

When a solicitor takes up your case under a No Win No Fee agreement (also called Conditional Fee Agreements) there is no requirement to pay a fee to retain them, or as the case proceeds.

The only time you need to pay your solicitors is if your case is successful. Then they’ll make a deduction from your settlement which is legally limited. You don’t pay your lawyer for their services in the event that your claim is lost.

For more information on making a claim, or how to use our dental negligence claim calculator, get in touch today.

Get Help Using Our Dental Negligence Claim Calculator

Why not get in touch to discuss calculating compensation for a dental negligence claim? We can assist you right now when you:

Learn More About Using Our Dental Negligence Claim Calculator

Below, we’ve included some more of our guides that you might find useful:

You may also benefit from the following external resources:

If you have any more questions about using our dental negligence claim calculator, speak with an advisor today.