Dental experts play a big role in Dental-related Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury claims. Experts are relied upon by judges and lawyers as to whether the claimant has a valid claim or not.

Therefore, we asked 2 dental experts – Dr Antony Visocchi and Dr Lucy Nichols – to give their advice to solicitors on:

• What qualities to look out for in a dental expert
• How to instruct a dental expert for their case
• How to work with a dental expert

There are 4 key factors to consider when looking for a nomination for a Dental Expert:

1. Have they been working in the Dental field for at least 10-12 years?
2. Are they still working in the profession at some level?
3. Do they specialise in the same domain that the case relates to?
4. Do they have appropriate training and memberships to nationally recognised organisations and directories?

If you’ve found a dental expert that ticks these four boxes, then the next step is to instruct them.

In order to instruct a dental expert, you’ll need to compile a bundle of documents including medical and/or dental records

Giving a complete set of documents to your dental expert from the beginning will save you a lot of time and money on your case.

If the expert starts working on your case and realises part way through that they don’t have everything they need, this will inevitably result in delays in writing their report and potentially higher fees if they need to spend more time refreshing their memory on the case.

Here is an 8-step checklist to go over before you send all the documentation to your dental expert before they begin work on your claim.

1. Have you given clear instructions and the claimant’s position?
   It’s essential you provide your dental expert with your requirements as well as the case details and your claimant’s position. Failure to do so and you may receive an inadequate report that doesn’t help your case.

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2. Are all the documents relevant to your case?
   Don’t provide your dental expert with irrelevant medical records that have nothing to do with your case. This will only slow them down if they have to go through all the documents to decide what is and isn’t relevant.

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3. Have you provided high-quality images?
   All images, for example, radiographs, must be of diagnostic quality and not poor-quality photocopies. Ideally, they should be in digital format. Extremely good hard copy reproductions can be acceptable but rarely will suffice alone.

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4. Have you dated all the images?
   This is the number one irritation for dental experts when they receive a bundle. It’s not enough to label images in chronological order. You must make sure that each individual image has the correct date of when they were taken.

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5. Are the files in the correct format?
   Check with your expert if they prefer a hard copy bundle or an electronic one.
   Don’t use uncommon digital file formats that a dental expert will struggle to open. And remember, not all laptops are compatible with CD-ROMS and USB sticks.

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6. Have you included all the dental notes?
   When you request notes from a dental practice ask for: clinical notes from each appointment date, radiographs, photos taken, correspondence, consent forms and any other documentation they have. If your claim relates to periodontal disease make sure to request all BPE scores (gum disease screening scores) and all full periodontal chartings. These are often in a separate part of the dental software system and may be missed if the main body of the notes is simply printed. This can lead to an assumption that they have not been done when in fact they were.

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7. Do you need to do a clinical examination?
   In many dental cases, a clinical examination will not add information that can be gained from the documentation. So ask your expert first before you arrange a clinical examination for your claimant to avoid delaying the final report and adding costs to your expert’s fee.

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8. Have you provided all the records?
   All relevant records need to be provided; before, during and after the incident, as well as the details of the reason for raising an action. Notes from a previous treating dentist are very often important in order to ascertain the status of a tooth or teeth prior to any alleged negligence, or prior to any accident.