Mr Fitzum Tewelde, a 62-year-old Uber driver who lives in South London has been awarded £9,500 by his former dentist with the help of specialist negligence solicitors the Dental Law Partnership. The payment was awarded after his dentist failed to place implants to a reasonable standard and there were multiple issues with the screws used to hold his bridge in place. This resulted in two years of continuous agonising pain, and an inability to eat, sleep, or speak. This whole ordeal heavily affected Mr Tewelde’s work as an Uber driver, his social life, and left him with a severe lack of trust in the dental industry. He still has a broken screw in his mouth today.
Mr Tewelde was a patient of Dr Benjamin Mather at Banning Dental Group, Blackfriars, from 2023. “I only had a few teeth remaining and I had wanted to get implants fitted for a long time. I thought the practice looked good as I kept seeing their adverts while driving across Blackfriars Bridge,” Mr Tewelde recalled. “I had my first consultation in February 2023 and received a CBCT scan. Later in April I went back to the practice and four of my lower teeth were extracted, and four implants put in place. My dentist Dr Mather recorded no complications, but I later found out that the initial CBCT scan taken showed there wasn’t enough bone, and that I needed grafting done before an implant could be placed.”
“After the implant placement, my problems multiplied. From day one I could feel something was very wrong. I booked another appointment for a correction right away as I was in pain and was prescribed antibiotics. However, the pain didn’t stop, in fact it only got worse. I booked another appointment the same month and had the implants removed. A new set was trialled and Dr Mather recorded they were a good fit,” Mr Tewelde explained. “Two weeks later I had a check-up appointment and Dr Mather said my implant was healing, and yet I felt like it was anything but, and my lower left implant was feeling particularly painful.”
“In July 2023 I had a lower implant bridge placed, but just two months later I could feel the entire bridge moving. I had the bridge removed and Dr Mather attempted to retighten my lower right tooth implant, which was excruciating and it led to my implant coming out and now needing to be replaced. After this I was told the new bridge now fitted better and was secure, but after another month of pain, in October Dr Mather told me he’d found a broken implant screw in the bridge and that the implant itself was loose. This explained the constant blood in my mouth, and I was advised to keep a soft diet.” I felt like I was being lied to as Dr Mather continued to tell me he’d fixed the issue.”
“Over the following year I had appointment after appointment, I was calling the practice all the time but nothing ever changed. I was always bleeding, always in pain, I could barely eat or sleep and I couldn’t even speak. This made work as an Uber driver completely draining as I couldn’t talk to my passengers and I could no longer eat out with my family or go to coffee with my friends. I rang the practice stating I needed my mouth fixed, but then I was told Dr Mather had left, and there was nothing they could do to help me. I said I don’t care who treats me, I just need my mouth fixed, but they kept ignoring me.” Mr Tewelde stated. “I was fed up with being in pain and not getting anywhere so I decided to go to another practice. The new dentist immediately found that both my lower left and right implants had fractured screws.”
Frustrated with the experiences he had gone through, Mr Tewelde contacted the Dental Law Partnership in 2025. Further analysis revealed the extent of the poor dental treatment Mr Tewelde received from Dr Mather, where he failed to adequately assess, diagnose, and plan the implant treatment, and then conducted a poor execution of the treatment and bridgework, which led to the pain of multiple implants becoming loose, loss of an implant, and multiple restorative treatments. This impacted his quality of life including ability to eat and speak properly, which could have all been avoided.
“The experience has affected my everyday life, both professionally and socially. As an Uber driver I felt ashamed of even speaking to customers in my car as there was constantly blood in my mouth. I couldn’t even call up my friends and talk about what I was going through. When my family went out I couldn’t eat with them. I felt constantly embarrassed in front of those closest to me,” Mr Tewelde explained. “This went on for two years where I felt like I was constantly being deceived by my dentist, so I can’t trust anyone in the dental industry now. The way they have treated me has left me scared to go near any dentist with my teeth. I’ve lost a tooth, lived with shame and embarrassment, and I still have a fractured screw in my mouth to this day. I just feel completely let down and betrayed.”
Nicholas Hampson of the Dental Law Partnership commented: “The distress and pain our client has experienced was completely unnecessary. If the dentist involved had provided more satisfactory treatment, his problems could have been avoided”.
The Dental Law Partnership took on Mr Tewelde’s case in 2025. The case was successfully settled in February 2026 when Mr Tewelde was paid £9,500 in an out of court settlement. The dentist involved did not admit liability.
