A grandfather who had suffered "14 years of excruciating pain" from botched dental work tragically took his own life.
Widow Clive Worthington was experiencing a multitude of serious health problems following failed treatment to give him dental implants and a fitted denture.
The bungled work, done in Hungary in 2008, had left the 81-year-old with a misaligned bite, trouble chewing and swallowing, as well as constant gum infections, headaches, a deviated jaw, and frequent pain.
The pain was so bad that Clive, a retired woodworker from Harlow, Essex, took his life, with his family estimating his spend on dental work and legal fees cost about £20,000.
Clive had previously won £117,000 in compensation for the dental work. But, due to a legal loophole, had not received a penny of it when he died in September last year.
His health problems had caused him to lose weight and stop going out, and he later needed treatment for anxiety and depression, according to his daughter Gina Tilly.
Mum-of-one Gina, 43, from London, is now seeking justice for her father.
His ordeal started when Mr Worthington got the dental implants and a fitted overdenture from a private dentist in Hungary, after his ordinary denture was causing him pain and discomfort.
The new denture wasn't fitted properly, leading to chipping and cracks with repeated infections around the implants and in the gums.
"He couldn't sleep from the pain. I rarely saw him without him mentioning it," said Ms Tilly.
Mr Worthington continued to see the same dentist at one of the company's British branches, receiving replacement dentures, bridges and more dental implants, which caused him increasing levels of pain.
In September 2015, the dentist told him there was nothing further she could help him with, and told him to get advice from insurers.
The dentist was later found guilty of misconduct, but was allowed to keep practicing under certain conditions.
In November 2019 the dentist was instructed by a court to pay Mr Worthington £86,495.62 in damages and £30,882.80 in costs, to be paid within 14 days.
But due to the dentist's insurance, a loophole existed meaning the cash was never paid out.
"These big old organisations make you feel powerless," said Ms Tilly.
"I knew he'd been struggling, he was having a really hard time. I knew something was wrong but it was still a shock."
She added: "It's completely devastated us. My daughter doesn't know all the details. It's just really terrible.
"Dad was one of 10 children, so when this happened, it wasn't just about him, it had a big ripple effect."
The dentist is reportedly no longer based in the UK, making it much harder now for the family to get them to pay out.
"I want to make sure no one else has to go through what our family has gone through," added Ms Tilly.
"I'm still yet to understand how this is allowed to happen. It appears the GDC has chosen to support unregulated dentist societies over the patients it is supposed to protect."
A General Dental Council spokesperson said: "It is deeply frustrating that weaknesses in the current legislation caused the system to fail in this instance.
"We encourage the Department of Health and Social Care to accelerate their work to review and update the existing provisions, which we as regulator can then apply."
The dentist and company were contacted for comment.
