Roisin Mimnagh, has agreed to a €60,000 dentist negligence settlement after experiencing considerable trauma following unauthorized dental treatment being administered which left her afraid to smile.
After the treatment of 50-year-old Mrs Mimnagh, the Court was advised, to her surprise, that an incisor had been filed away and replaced with an amalgam or composite.
David McParland, representing Ms Mimnagh, told Judge Jacqueline Linnane that his client was someone who was usually pleased with how she looks. She booked a treatment with Dr Anna O’Donovan, Griffith Avenue, Dublin, to have her incisor realigned. He told the Court: “To her horror she afterwards found that her tooth had been filed away and replaced with an amalgam or composite that was smaller and shorter and different from her original tooth”.
Judge Linnane was informed by Mr McPartland that his client at first was told that she was going to have some white filling applied to her tooth. She was shocked when she later saw it had been filed away and an amalgam or composite applied to it.
Remedial work was completed during 2013 however Mr McParland said Ms Mimnagh was still wearing an appliance on her tooth. He went on to say that a dental specialist they contacted was of the opinion that Ms Mimnagh would need further realignment work.
Legal Counsel for Dr O’Donovan entered a full defence to Ms Mimnagh’s legal action. However they had admitted that written consent for the specific treatment for her tooth had not been provided. She added that the case before the court was not one of assigning liability but a matter of assessing damages.
Judge Linnane told the Court that she had examined the pleadings and had found that the latest expert report was over three years old. Due to this she said that she could not assess damages as the reports were too old. Judge Linnane suggested some talks about settling the case. Following talks, Mr McParland returned to Court shortly later to advise the Judge that the case had been settled and could be struck out with an order for Ms Mimnagh’s legal costs to be taxed in default of agreement.