A woman who has lost three teeth and is set to lose six more because a disease had not been diagnosed has been handed £37,500 in compensation.

Anne White, from Bearsted, joined Romney Place Dental Practice in 1999 and saw Dr Martin Sagar for routine check-ups every six months until March 2015.

Representing lawyers say from 2004 to 2015 the patient complained of experiencing severe pain and sensitivity intermittently.

By March 2015, they claim the pain in Mrs White’s teeth had become excruciating.

She went back to see Dr Sagar who apparently could find nothing wrong but the pain persisted, so Mrs White went to see her GP, who gave her a prescription to relieve the discomfort.

Mrs White sought out a new dentist who informed her she had extensive gum disease and bone loss in many of her teeth.

He advised she would need to undergo numerous root canal treatments and will likely to lose a number of teeth in the future.

Mrs White then contacted Dental Law Partnership who believed Dr Sagar had not properly examined X-rays taken and therefore failed to diagnose and treat periodontal disease and dental decay.

The Dental Law Partnership took on Mrs White’s case in 2016.

The case was successfully settled recently when the dentist paid £37,500 in an out of court settlement - but did not admit liability.

Mrs White said: “I was so shocked and angry.

“I’d been going to see Dr Sagar so often and had so many X-rays; I couldn’t understand how he hadn’t spotted any of these problems.

"The whole experience has completely knocked my confidence" - Anne White

“The whole experience has completely knocked my confidence.

“Whenever I saw Dr Sagar, he would say that everything looked fine.

“Every two years or so he would take X-rays but never gave me any reason to mistrust him.

"I just presumed that he knew what he was doing.

“I was getting these terrible aches and pains.

“The medication didn’t help at all so I decided to go and see a new dentist.”

Tim Armitage, of the Dental Law Partnership, said: “What our client went through was completely unnecessary.

“If the dentist had properly diagnosed periodontal disease and treated decay in the first place, all the problems she experienced could have been avoided.

“We hope the compensation she receives goes some way towards paying for the additional treatment required.”

Dr Sagar and Romney Place Dental Practice both declined to comment when contacted.