DURING the coronavirus lockdown, grandfather Paul Thorpe started to struggle with a filling.
The 58-year-old booked in for an emergency appointment in March 2021 at his local dental practice when it finally fell out.
Paul Thorpe had an infection, which meant the filling in his tooth kept falling outPA Real Life
But during a procedure to fix it, the tooth next to it, a gold crown, became lodged in his lungsPA Real Life
This gold crown had obstructed his air flow, meaning he needed emergency surgeryPA Real Life
It had been constantly falling out because of an infection, with the retired RAF navigator going back and forth for over a year with the issue.
Paul thought he would just be having a routine procedure to put the filling back in.
During the emergency appointment, the dentist advised that the best course of action would be to remove the affected tooth completely.
However, the gold crown that sat next to the tooth became lodged in his lung during the removal – with Paul, from Doncaster being forced to have emergency surgery to save his life.
Now following his ordeal, he has won £4,500 in compensation.
Paul said that halfway through his appointment he started coughing and struggling to breathe, but the dentist insisted everything was fine, continuing the procedure.
“I suddenly pushed him away and jumped up and started coughing,” said Paul.
“I was struggling for breath and spluttering everywhere. The dentist said ‘just calm down, have a glass of water.’
“This happened two or three times because I couldn’t breathe. I kept telling him I’m struggling to breathe, something’s not right.
“But then I moved my tongue around my mouth and I said ‘I can’t feel my gold crown’, which had been attached to the tooth next to the one being extracted.
“But the dentist said it will probably pop out the other end in a few days.”
Paul knew something was amiss, raising his laboured breathing with the dentist again, who wrote him a prescription for an X-ray at Doncaster Royal Infirmary.
“But once I got to the hospital the nurse informed me the dentist wasn’t authorised to write a prescription for a chest X-ray – only a doctor can say what action needs to be taken.
“So I was told to go down to A&E to see a doctor,” Paul said.
Thankfully, he was able to get his much-needed X-ray but was horrified when medics revealed his gold crown was lodged in his right lung.
It was then that they told the grandfather that there was a change he could die.
“I was shocked. It was restricting 60 per cent of the air flow. I was told the only way to get it out was under general anaesthetic.”
Rushed for emergency surgery at Northern General Hospital in Sheffield, Paul’s gold crown was removed.
“It was during Covid so my wife Gillian couldn’t come with me,” explained Paul.
“She was petrified, it was hard for her. You don’t expect to be in hospital after a routine visit to the dentist.
“I was lucky in that I’m a relatively young individual. But it could have been completely the other way.”
However, the granddad was terrified that this could happen to someone else.
“The dentist phoned me once I was home from surgery,” explained Paul.
“He said he just didn’t know what to do. That just got me even more, I might say annoyed or angry, but surprised that this kind of thing isn’t part of their risk assessments.”
Contacting the Dental Law Partnership, Paul took legal action, hoping to make sure no one else would have the same ordeal.
“They took care of everything,” he said.
“My biggest thing was dentists should know what to do when these kinds of things happen.”
Over the next 18 months, Paul’s recovery was slow and though his lung recovered well, Paul’s teeth became continually infected.
“The next time I sat in a dentist chair I was extremely nervous,” said Paul.
“Just walking into the dentists wasn’t very pleasant. After my surgery I got a massive infection in the socket area where my tooth was. It was a massive gaping hole, it’s been constant pain.
“I had a lot of pain in that area from infections. I think it’s probably been only in the past few months where the whole area is going back to normal.”
In December 2022, the dentist involved denied liability but further analysis by the Dental Law Partnership revealed significant failure to use reasonable care and skill before, during and after the procedure.
The case was successfully settled and Paul was awarded £4,500.
“I haven’t even thought about the money,” said Paul.
“The reason I did this is for the dentist to make sure that he’s better prepared.
“I don’t want anything like this to happen again.”
Now Paul is fully recovered and hopes that his terrifying ordeal makes dentists think twice when removing fillings.
“I hope this makes the practice review their risk assessments,” said Paul.
“So if it does happen again they know what to do and can maybe even prevent it from happening.”