A MUM left with permanent nerve damage after a botched tooth extraction has been awarded £15,000 in compensation.

Dentists at Whipps Cross University Hospital were found to have wrongly removed a tooth leaving 31-year-old Katie Cross with a  permanent numbness in her lower lip and chin.

The stay-at-home mum from East London, was referred to the hospital to have a tooth extracted in January 2014 after experiencing inflammation and severe pain in her gums, but immediately after the procedure Katie felt something had gone wrong.

She said: "I thought everything was fine at first but the following day I knew something wasn't right.

"My lips and the side of my chin felt completely numb. My gums still hurt and I couldn't eat properly because of the numbness."

She made another appointment at Whipps Cross University Hospital where she was told it could take 18 months for her mouth to return to normal.

She said: "I couldn't believe it as none of the consultants had ever mentioned this would be the case.

"I tried to get used to it but I struggled with eating and drinking, and often dribbled without realising it because I didn't have proper feeling in my mouth."

She contacted contacted negligence solicitor firm The Dental Law Partnership after her condition hadn't improved after a year.

The firm's dental team examined her teeth and found that particular tooth should not have been removed at all.

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It had hooked roots, which increased the risk of nerve damage.

Instead dentists should have removed another tooth to relieve Katie's symptoms.

In June 2015 the numbness around her mouth was diagnosed as being permanent.

Katie added: "Being informed that the numbness is permanent was soul destroying. Dentists are supposed to be experts.

"The fact they failed to spot the risk of nerve damage clearly shown in X-rays and recommended the tooth should be extracted anyway is unbelievable.

"I now have no choice but to learn to live with it."

Jonathan Owen of the Dental Law Partnership who represented Katie said: "What our client had to go through and the permanent damage caused is completely unnecessary.

"If the dentists at this NHS Trust had provided the correct treatment in the first place the issues she has and will experience could have been avoided."

The Dental Law Partnership took on Katie's case in July 2014, and in November 2016, Barts Health NHS Trust paid £15,000 in an out of court settlement.

They did not admit liability.

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