Dental expert witness
Essentially dental expert witness service work falls into two categories, personal injury and dental negligence.
Personal injury
Children’s dental injuries are usually the most complex. Injuries are common around age 2 to 3 when children toddle and their motor coordination is developing as they move around on their own. In the permanent dentition peak incidence for boys is found at aged 9 to 10 years at a time when vigorous playing and sports are frequent. In 12 year old children 20-30% have suffered dental injuries, particularly boys. In adulthood the most common causes of injury of the permanent dentition are falls, followed by traffic injuries, acts of violence and sports injuries.
Dental negligence
Dentistry is a very difficult job necessitating hundreds of decisions a day. It is not surprising it is stressful dealing with patients in pain and who are frightened of treatment. Things go wrong, poor communication is often an underlying factor. Where there is a failure on the clinician’s part this can have a considerable impact on the patient. The top 10 complaints about dental treatment are concerned with the following aspects:
- Crowns
- Root fillings
- Bridges
- Fillings
- Implants
- Dentures
- Extractions
- Veneers
- Braces
- Scale and polish
And the top 5 non-clinical issues which lead to patients complaints are:
- Failure of treatment
- Poor communication
- Post-operative pain
- Poor follow-up care
- Patient fees
Get the most out of your dental expert witness
Detailed instructions and paginated folders are ideal. These should be supplemented with the following dental materials:
- A&E records (PI)
- Dental records, quality colour photocopies of both sides of the older beige dental records or originals
- Copies of digital radiographs (jpegs) or quality copies or original small dental films
- Clinical photographs and plaster casts of teeth are often overlooked.
Dentists and specialists
Often solicitors and legal executives erroneously look for an orthodontist in PI cases. An orthodontist is a specialist concerned with straightening teeth with braces rather than managing damaged teeth. It is a specialism that that most people are familiar with and may have encountered personally in their early teens!
There are not many dental expert witnesses in the UK. General dentists and dentists with a special interest in expert witness work can often assist as the lead EW.
Other specialists in dentistry of interest to the instructing party may include the following:
- Restorative dentistry, specialists concerned with restoring teeth
- Prosthodontics, specialists concerned with replacing missing teeth
- Endodontics, specialists concerned with root filling teeth
- Periodontics, specialists concerned with periodontal disease (gum disease)
- Oral Surgery, removing wisdom teeth, facial injuries
- Paediatric dentistry, children’s dentistry
If you unsure which type of dental expert you need we are happy to help.
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