AT just age 12, Havanna Palmer wanted to fix the gaps in her teeth.
It's common for youngsters to have this, and most of the time, braces are able to fix the issue.
She started treatment in January 2013, and over the course of four years, says various treatments and procedures have left her smile worse and has caused lifelong repercussions.
Now, she's been awarded £30,000 in compensation after medics told Hannah that she will have to undergo invasive dental treatment for the rest of her life.
When she first went to the dentist in Hitchin, Havanna, who lives in Finchley, London said she was told to have extractions.
She was then referred to a practice for brace treatment to straighten her teeth and was told that this would take 18 months.
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Recalling her treatment plan, the 22-year-old said this would involve her visiting the dentist every couple of months, which she did between May 2013 and December 2015.
"I continued to visit every two-three months in 2016, each time asking when they thought the braces could come off, but at each visit I was reassured everything was fine and suggested they could come off at the next visit.
“However, I was convinced we weren’t any closer to closing the gaps in my front teeth," the recruitment consultant said.
Over the summer of 2016, Havanna said the dentist explained to her that some of her teeth had started to show signs of decalcification.
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This is essentially the loss of calcium from the teeth, which can lead to decay.
It usually starts as white marks on the surface of the teeth and in older children, is the result of plaque sticking to the tooth over a prolonged period of time.
However, Havanna said dentists reassured her and her mum that her teeth were otherwise in good health and that she didn't need to worry.
Then in July 2017, when Havanna was 16, the braces were finally removed, revealing the severity of what the treatment had done to her teeth.
Havanna said: "Once the braces were finally taken off you could see there were extremely noticeable marks across many of my teeth, I was experiencing pain in my mouth, and my breath smelt bad.
"What’s more, the gap in my teeth still hadn’t been closed and now I had clearly visible signs of decay in several teeth, which had not once been mentioned by the dentists.
“It felt like the practice had washed their hands of me, without solving any of my issues, and I had to find another dentist to help me".
In the following months and years, Havanna was treated at other dental practices for multiple instances of decay, which have required fillings, root canals, crowns and onlays, and she has also suffered through several infections as a result.
In 2018, she decided to contact the Dental Law Partnership.
The team there helped discover a number of errors where diagnosis and treatment of issues were not provided, or even acknowledged.
Hannah said: "These untreated cavities have led to fillings, infections, root canals and more.
"Eventually I am going to lose many of my teeth where the decay is too far gone, and will need implants or veneers, which are costly and will need to be replaced every few years too.
"I’m always worried about what treatment will be next – each of them are stressful and it’s something I’m going to have to deal with for the rest of my life."
She added that the most frustrating thing about her ordeal, is that if it would have been treated early on, then further procedures wouldn't be needed.
"They should have intervened sooner," Havanna added.
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Stephanie Neden-King of the Dental Law Partnership commented: "The considerable distress and pain our client has experienced was completely unnecessary.
"If the dentists involved had provided more sufficient treatment and diagnosed issues at an earlier stage, Miss Palmer’s problems and considerable future treatments required could have been avoided.”
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