Nahida Irons, 31, sued H. Kaur and A. Waheed from Apollonia Dental Care in Greenford, Middlesex, then Abdellatif of Smile for Life Dental Surgery in Hammersmith, after all three failed to use reasonable skill and care in treating her over a four-year period.
Between January 2005 and May 2009 Mrs Irons suffered substandard diagnosis, a series of poorly fitted crowns and wholly avoidable root canal treatments and was finally awarded £7,500 in compensation last month.
During Mrs Iron’s legal battle, which took just over two years to complete, the dentists, none of whom admitted liability, insisted on trying to include a gagging clause within the settlement.
This would have prevented Nahida from discussing her successful case with anyone beyond her professional advisors
However, Nahida refused to be silenced and after standing her ground to resist the imposition of a gag, has finally received the compensation and is free to tell others about her ordeal.
Nahida said: “I had a terrible time at the hands of not one, but three dentists at two different surgeries. I was really concerned about not being able to tell anyone about my experience in the future.
“When I discovered that the original agreement offered by the dentists’ legal representatives contained a gagging clause I was horrified and was determined that I wouldn’t agree to it.
“I believe dental patients have the right to know about failings by dental professionals. People put a lot of trust in their dentists so they should have a clear understanding of the level of care and professionalism they offer. Dentists should be accountable for their mistakes.”
Chris Dean, a director of the Dental Law Partnership, the firm who represented Nahida in her legal case, said: “In the last six months we have seen a significant increase in the number of dental negligence claims in which the dentists responsible seek to gag our clients as a condition of the settlement. This means that unless clients agree to keep quiet about their claims they will not be compensated.
“Some of our clients have had no option but to accept a gag because they need the settlement money quickly to pay for corrective treatment, but others, like Nahida, are prepared to put up with an extended fight over the claim because they are simply not willing to be ‘gagged’.
“We think it is really important for people to be aware of the details of claims about poor quality dental treatment to enable them to ask the right questions of their own dentists, and it is also in the public interest that settlements should be made public so that dentists can put their own houses in order.
“It seems completely wrong that people who have been harmed by their own dentists – in Nahida’s case, three dentists - should then be bullied by them into keeping quiet about how they have suffered.”