Kerala dentist ordered to pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation for damaging patient’s healthy teeth

PTI, Feb 14, 2024, 9:54 AM IST

A private dental surgeon here has been ordered to pay a compensation of Rs five lakh for damaging five healthy teeth of a patient when she sought treatment.

The District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission here directed Dr Shiny Antony Rouf, who runs a dental clinic here, to pay the compensation to K R Usha Kumari, a native of Vattukulam here, a release on Tuesday stated.

According to the complainant, she had approached Rouf some time ago to find out if there was any gap or fracture in her upper tooth.

However, the dentist, without the patient’s permission, performed another dental procedure on five undamaged teeth and accepted an advance amount for its crowning, the Commission said in a statement.

Following this, the patient had experienced pain and difficulty in speaking and had to seek treatment in Kottayam Dental College later.

She also had to pay Rs 57,600 at another hospital for fixing the crown, it said.

The Commission found that negligence in the treatment by the dental surgeon destroyed the healthy teeth of the complainant and caused her mental distress and financial loss.

So, the panel ordered the doctor to pay a compensation of Rs five lakh to the patient, the statement added.