A carer was left struggling to breathe for two years after part of his tooth was left lodged in his sinuses following a botched dental extraction.
Mark Shire, suffered from chronic sinusitis which made it difficult for him to sleep and work due to the constant pain and his blocked nose made it difficult to breathe.
The 58-year-old, from Marlborough in Wiltshire, initially visited the dentist in January 2020 to remove two teeth on the upper left side of his mouth that were causing him pain.
But after the extractions he was still in pain and his gums were not healing.
Finally, after two years of suffering, a scan revealed part of one of the extracted teeth in his socket, he removed it and decided to take legal action.
A CT scan revealed that he had sinusitis on the left side caused by a piece of tooth lodged in his sinus
Mark Shire, 58, suffered from chronic sinusitis which made it difficult for him to sleep and work due to constant pain and a stuffy nose that made breathing difficult
“I knew things were not right as my dentist had a very hard job pulling the teeth out,” Mr Shire said.
“The whole experience was very scary. I’m so lucky it finally got caught and I never thought it would all be because of a dental extraction,” he added.
After the initial extraction, Mr Shire was immediately left in pain and told his gums were not healing well.
A year later he returned to the same dentist’s office with pain and was prescribed an antibiotic and the dentist cleaned his tooth socket.
For two years, Mr Shire suffered from sinus problems, including terrible headaches, a stuffy nose and a bad taste in his mouth.
He said: “In January 2022, I visited a GP for pain and sinus congestion as I never thought it would be related to my teeth.
“They gave me antibiotics and nasal sprays, but the problems continued.
“Then I was visited by an ear, nose and throat specialist.
“Despite multiple rounds of antibiotics, I experienced foul-smelling thick mucus coming out of the left side of my nose and down my throat, left-sided facial pain, and left-sided headaches.”
Sinusitis is usually caused by an infection and in most cases will go away on its own in around four weeks, according to the NHS.
However, some medicines can help if the infection takes a long time to clear up.
It’s common after a cold or flu and can cause pain around your cheeks, eyes and forehead, stuffy nose and mucus, headache and toothache, says the NHS.
In June 2022, Mr Shire was referred to hospital where a CT scan revealed he had left-sided sinusitis caused by a piece of tooth lodged in his sinus.
“The sinusitis made me feel like I had a permanent cold,” she said.
“The stuffy nose made breathing difficult and I always had a horrible taste in my mouth from the pus that was running.
“I often had trouble sleeping and couldn’t go to work sometimes because the headaches were so bad.
“The whole experience was very scary. I’m so lucky it finally got caught and I never thought it would all be because of a tooth extraction.”
After his ordeal, Mr Shire returned to his dentist in November that year to tell her what had happened as a result of her treatment.
However, he claims he took an x-ray but received no apology for the poor extraction.
In May last year, he underwent surgery under general anaesthesia, where surgeons removed the tooth fragment that was left in his socket.
“I had to take two weeks off work to recover. After that, my sinus problems cleared up and healed,” explained Mr Shire.
Mr Shire decided to take legal action and was awarded an £8,400 payout, but the dentist involved did not admit liability.
Further analysis by the Dental Law Partnership found that tooth extractions resulted in a tooth fragment breaking off and being pushed into the sinus.
It also found that no attempt was made to identify or remove it or refer Mr Shire to rectify it.
Heather Owen of the Dental Law Partnership said: “The anguish and pain our client experienced was completely unnecessary.
“If the dentist involved had provided more satisfactory treatment, his problems could have been avoided.”
