By Danielle Jordan. Last Updated 11th March 2024. Legal Expert work with no win no fee solicitors from across the country who can help people to make a personal injury claim. In this case study, we look at an example of a personal injury someone sustained whilst eating out in a restaurant. In our case study, the claimant was dining at a pizza restaurant. Whilst eating the pizza he ordered he broke his tooth on a piece of glass which was embedded in the slice of pizza.
As a result of biting into the glass the claimant was left with a broken tooth, specifically, his top left molar had been broken in half. Due to the injury suffered and the treatment recommended by a dentist, the claimant chose to seek compensation for a broken tooth through a personal injury solicitor.
At Legal Expert, we have helped clients with similar broken tooth and broken teeth injuries to get the compensation they deserve. There are many incidents where you may be able to claim compensation, such as suffering a broken tooth from restaurant food as the result of negligence. To see if you can claim, you can call us for free legal advice using 0800 073 8804. If you prefer, you can contact us through our website or send us your query using the Live chat bubble onscreen.
Please read on to learn more about broken tooth compensation.
Select a Section
- Broken Tooth Injuries
- What Injuries Were Sustained In This Case?
- Compensation For Loss Of Teeth And The Broken Tooth Settlement Offer
- Broken Tooth Injury Compensation
- I Broke My Tooth, Could I Claim With A No Win No Fee Solicitor?
- Useful Links
Broken Tooth Injuries
Broken teeth may cause significant pain and cosmetic damage that may require dental treatment. Therefore, if your teeth were damaged in an accident that was not your fault, you may be entitled to compensation for your broken teeth following a successful personal injury claim.
Here are the specific eligibility criteria for starting a claim:
- A third party must have owed you a duty of care
- The third party has acted negligently, breaching this duty
- This resulted in your broken teeth
A duty of care is a legal obligation imposed upon specific individuals who must ensure the safety of others while in their care.
Below are examples of when you may be owed a duty of care and how breaching this duty may result in a broken tooth.
Road Traffic Accidents
All road users owe a duty of care to other road users. They must navigate the roads safely to avoid harming other road users. To meet this duty, they should follow rules contained in the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the Highway Code. However, failure to meet such driving standards may result in accidents and broken teeth.
For example, your vehicle may have been stationary at traffic lights when another driver failed to stop on time, impacting the rear end of your vehicle. This may have resulted in you breaking your tooth on your stirring wheel. As the negligent driving of the third party caused your injury, you may be entitled to start a claim.
Accidents In A Public Place
Under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, anyone who controls a public place has a duty to ensure the area is reasonably safe for all visitors. Failure to do so may result in accidents that cause broken teeth.
For example, you may have been eating at a restaurant, and you brake your tooth on a bone that should have been removed during food preperation. Here, you may be eligible to claim compensation.
Accidents At Work
Under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, all employers must take reasonable and practicable steps to protect the health and safety of their employees. Failure to do so may result in workplace accidents and may cause employees to sustain damaged teeth.
For example, your employer may have failed to put a wet floor sign near a spillage. As there was no warning sign, you may have slipped, hitting your face on the floor. If this resulted in your broken tooth, you may be eligible to claim compensation.
To learn about the average payout for broken teeth claims, contact our helpful advisors today.
Broken Tooth Claims – The Time Limit For Claiming
If you are seeking compensation for your tooth injury, you must bring forward your claim within the personal injury claims time limit. The Limitation Act 1980 sets this as typically 3 years from the date that your tooth was broken.
However, there are some exceptions to this. These include:
- Injured parties without the mental capacity to initiate proceedings themselves have a suspension applied to this limitation period. During this suspension, a court-appointed litigation friend can file the claim on their behalf. However, if the injured party were to regain this capacity and a claim was not filed already, they would have 3 years from the date their capacity was recovered to begin proceedings.
- Injured parties under the age of 18 have the time limit frozen until their 18th Before this, a litigation friend can act on their behalf. However, if they turn 18 and a claim was not made for them, they will have 3 years from their 18th birthday to start the claiming process.
If you have any questions about when to file your claim, please contact one of the advisors from our team.
What Injuries Were Sustained In This Case?
The claimant was dining at a pizza restaurant. Whilst eating some of their pizza, they bit down on a piece of glass that was lodged in the food. This causes one of their molars to break. Whilst the claimant did seek urgent dental treatment, their broken tooth could not be repaired or saved. Ultimately, the broken tooth needed to be extracted for the sake of the claimant’s dental health. A full dental report was sent to solicitors acting on behalf of the claimant. This included four treatment options for the claimant. These were:
- To provide no further treatment and leaving a gap where the tooth was. (This was the treatment recommended by the dentist).
- Replace the tooth which had been removed with a fixed bridge.
- Replace the damaged tooth with a (removable) false tooth.
- Replace the damaged tooth with a tooth implant.
The claimant chose to follow the dentists’ advice and sought no further corrective treatment. The claimant signed a letter of authority with their solicitor confirming their choice. This report was sent to the defendants’ insurers.
Compensation For Loss Of Teeth And The Broken Tooth Settlement Offer
Dental compensation amounts will vary from person to person and depend on the injury sustained. Broken tooth claim settlements can include both general and special damages. General damages compensate a claimant directly for the injury they suffered, such as the pain and suffering for a broken tooth in this case. Special damages compensate people for any financial costs that have suffered. These can include any loss of earnings or expenses they have suffered as a direct result of the accident.
Before disclosing this report to the defendant’s insurance company, the solicitor acting on behalf of the claimant drew up a schedule including all the out of pocket expenses that the claimant suffered, as well as those which were included in the medical report. In this case, the out of pocket expenses included the cost of travelling to and from dental appointments at a hospital, loss of earnings due to the claimant needing to take time off work and the cost of their immediate (as well as future) dental care.
This schedule was approved by the claimant and sent to the insurers acting on the defendants’ behalf along with a request for a settlement offer. There was a brief negotiation between the two parties as to the claim amount before the case was settled for £4,000 in general and special damages.
Broken Tooth Injury Compensation
As discussed above, your settlement for a broken tooth may include general damages and special damages. In this section, we are going to go into more detail looking at general damages.
In a successful claim, general damages is the compensation you receive for the pain and suffering you experienced due to your injuries. When assigning value to this head of claim, legal professionals use a document called the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). It provides guideline compensation brackets for various injuries of different severities.
Our table below contains figures from the JCG. However, as each claim is different, these values do not represent what you will receive in your final payout.
| Type of Injury | Severity | Bracket of Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| Skeletal Injuries | Damage to Teeth | Up to £46,540 |
| Damage to Teeth (i) | £10,660 to £13,930 | |
| Damage to Teeth (ii) | £5,310 to £9,310 | |
| Damage to Teeth (iii) | £2,690 to £4,820 | |
| Damage to Teeth (iv) | £1,330 to £2,080 | |
| Jaw Fracture (ii) | £21,920 to £37,210 | |
| Jaw Fracture (iii) | £7,880 to £10,660 | |
| Facial Disfigurement | Significant Scarring | £11,120 to £36,720 |
| Psychiatric Damage Generally | Moderate | £7,150 to £23,270 |
| Less Severe | £1,880 to £7,150 |
For a free estimate of how much broken tooth injury compensation you could get, or for help using our compensation calculator, call our advisors. As well as helping value your claim, they can assess its eligibility and chance of success. If it is valid and has a chance of succeeding, you could be put in touch with one of our solicitors.
I Broke My Tooth, Could I Claim With A No Win No Fee Solicitor?
A tooth breaking can cause a significant amount of pain and further complications, so if you have broken a tooth, you may be interested in making a claim for compensation. If so, our solicitors may be able to help.
Our solicitors offer their services on a No Win No Fee basis, through a kind of No Win No Fee arrangement known as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). Under this agreement, you are not required to pay any upfront fees in order for your solicitor to start working on your claim. Similarly, they will not ask for any ongoing fees in order to continue their work.
The only fee you will pay to your solicitor comes if your claim succeeds. In this case, your solicitor will take a success fee from your compensation award. They only take a small percentage with a legal cap, but if your claim fails, you don’t pay this fee at all.
Our team of advisors can help you determine whether you could be eligible to work with one of our solicitors. They can also answer any questions you may have about the process, like “I broke my tooth, when could I make a claim?” Get in touch today to learn more.
You can find out more about receiving broken tooth compensation by working with our panel of specialist solicitors. To do this, all you need to do is contact us for free legal advice today. Claimants can get in contact with Legal Expert by sending an email to info@legalexpert.co.uk. Please include information on the type of claim you need to make. You can also talk to Legal Expert by phoning us on 0800 073 8804. Alternatively, you can use our online contact form on this page to reach out to us today.
Useful Links
Restaurant Accident Compensation Claims
If you have been injured in a restaurant, bar, pub or other eateries, visit our guide to restaurant accident compensation claims and see how much compensation you can recover.
Food Standards
Find out how to report a problem with food in a restaurant to the appropriate authorities.
Dental Negligence Claims
Broken tooth injuries can also be caused by dental negligence. If you have been the victim of dental negligence, consult our online guide.
Broken Bone Compensation
View our guide to making compensation claims for broken or fractured bones.
Other Useful Compensation Guides
- Learn more about hospital negligence claims and find out when you could claim compensation for negligence in a hospital.
- Our guide explains when you could be entitled to compensation if care home negligence has caused you to suffer harm.
- If medical negligence has resulted in the death of a loved one, you may be entitled to compensation. Read our guide for more information.
If you’d like to find out more about settlements for broken teeth or if you’d like to see if you can claim after suffering a broken tooth from restaurant food, you can contact us completely for free at a time that works for you. Our team will tell you in minutes if you’re eligible to claim and can answer any questions you have on the claims process. Contact us for free using the information above.
Thank you for reading our guide about claiming compensation for a broken tooth.
