£42,500 damages over teeth left to rot

SHOCKED . . . Ian Lisle

A LEES man who will lose 11 teeth due to poor dental treatment has won £42,500 in compensation.

Ian Lisle sued Dr Michael Garside, whose practice is in High Street, Lees, after discovering he had failed to diagnose and treat decay in a number of teeth and had carried out poor bridge work.

Mr Lisle (51) first visited Dr Garside in 1994 and went for regular consultations and exams over the next 14 years.

He said: “Dr Garside was my dentist between 1994 and 2008. As far I knew, everything was fine with my teeth because I barely got any treatment for well over a decade. I went for regular check-ups and went ahead with treatments when he said I needed them.”

Problems began in 2005 after Dr Garside attempted to fix one of Mr Lisle’s teeth before telling him it would have to be extracted.

In 2007, Dr Garside told Mr Lisle that he would need another three of his teeth taken out, then delivered the same news just a year later.

Mr Lisle said: “I couldn’t understand why I suddenly started losing teeth. Dr Garside also put a bridge in. I was very concerned because I hadn’t had any problems in the past. Then I was suddenly told I needed to have so many of my teeth removed.”

Mr Lisle found out how bad the situation was when he consulted a different dentist: “Even more teeth were decayed and would need to be taken out. I couldn’t believe it,” he said.

Mr Lisle now faces extensive and expensive implant treatment to replace his missing teeth.

Mr Lisle said: “I’ll never know how Dr Garside could have let things get as bad they did. I was led to believe my oral health was much better than it was, when the complete opposite was true.”

Dr Garside did not admit liability and paid £42,500 to Mr Lisle in an out-of-court settlement.