The then-teenager was left with a large abscess after the tooth was cleaned and sealed during a check-up at her local dental practiceHelena Vesty NHS, social care and patients reporter and Eleanor Fleming
07:59, 22 Sep 2025
Katelyn post-surgery(Image: Collect/PA Real Life)
A “traumatised” student has received a £26,000 settlement from her former dental practice after it failed to diagnose and treat decay, leaving her with a large abscess which was on the verge of bursting and causing sepsis.
During the summer of 2021, Katelyn De Blick, then 16, from Keighley, West Yorkshire, said one of her teeth had cracked.
In a check-up at her local Skipton Road Mydentist practice, the tooth was cleaned and covered with a sealant.
Several weeks later, she said she went back to the practice with severe pain and a swollen jaw.
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Katelyn was diagnosed with a potential infected abscess, given antibiotics and told to go to A&E if it worsened.
As the “throbbing, stabbing” pain and swelling carried on, Katelyn’s mum took her to the A&E department at Airedale General Hospital.
Doctors told her the tooth needed to be removed immediately and the abscess was at risk of causing sepsis, which can be life-threatening.
Katelyn had surgery under general anaesthetic at Bradford Royal Infirmary, where medics removed the tooth and drained the abscess from the outside.
The procedure left her with a “painful” open wound for weeks and a 50p-sized scar.
After being put in touch with specialist dental negligence solicitors, the Dental Law Partnership, Katelyn’s case was settled in January 2025.
She was paid £26,000 in an out-of-court settlement – although the dental practice owners did not admit liability.
Katelyn, now 20, told PA Real Life: “The hospital said that, if I had waited any longer, (the abscess) could have potentially popped and caused sepsis.
“So they rushed me in for emergency surgery to take the tooth out under general anaesthetic and to drain the abscess.
“I was frightened because I’d never had an operation under anaesthesia before. The whole experience was traumatic.”
Katelyn now has a ‘deep fear of dentists’
A spokesperson for Mydentist said: “We would like to apologise for the experience Ms De Blick had.
“Providing the highest quality dental care to our patients is our first priority and we deeply regret that, on this rare occasion, it fell below our expectations.
“The dentist involved in this case no longer works at the practice.”
Katelyn had been registered with Mydentist, at 165-167 Skipton Road, Keighley, West Yorkshire, for a number of years and explained that her visits had always been “generally OK”.
She had never came across any major dental problems until summer 2021, when she was 16 and began experiencing pain – though she “didn’t think anything of it”.
An examination revealed that one of her teeth on the left side, LL7, had fractured, Katelyn said a dentist, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, cleaned the tooth and applied a sealant to it.
“After they had done that, a few weeks later, I started to get severe pain and the whole side of my face had swollen up,” she explained.
“At first, it was more just thinking I’d had a reaction or something, so I went to the dentist to get it checked, and they said that I had a severe abscess on the back of my tooth.
“They said that they were going to give me antibiotics for it for a few weeks and that should help it.”
However, Katelyn revealed that days later, the swelling had “spread down to (her) throat”, making it difficult for her to breathe properly.
She said the swelling as so severe that her mother asked her if she had “fallen over”.
Describing the pain, Katelyn said: “I couldn’t lift my head up, I couldn’t get up.
“Every time I moved, I felt like I couldn’t breathe and, because the pain was so bad, I couldn’t eat or drink, which obviously made me dehydrated.
“But at one point, I was lying on my bedroom floor because I couldn’t get up and I was on the phone to my mum, wheezing, because I just couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t take any air in.”
Swelling in Katelyn De Blick’s jaw
This made her mum rush Katelyn to the A&E department at Airedale General Hospital, where doctors informed them the tooth “should have been pulled out straightaway because of how severe it was”.
Katelyn was then referred to the Ear, Nose and Throat department at Bradford Royal Infirmary, where she received some “scary” news.
She shared that it was revealed the cracked tooth and abscess were a result of untreated decay, and she was told the abscess was on the brink of bursting and causing sepsis.
“They had to make an incision at the back of my mouth so they could get the tooth out and drain the abscess,” she explained.
“I had to wear a drain until it had all healed up and I had to have stitches.
“I had to stay in the hospital for a few days, which meant I missed college.”
Katelyn said that her hospital stay left her feeling “frightened, anxious and scared” and, since the surgeon had to burst the abscess from the outside to prevent further infections, she was left with a visible hole for weeks.
She explained she had to clean the wound daily and use bandages, which was “painful”, and she felt “very low” during this period.
“I didn’t want to go out because I just felt so horrible,” she added.
“At that time, I was in college and I’m one of those people who likes to keep to themselves, and people were asking questions that I didn’t want to answer.
“It all just felt very overwhelming.”
Katelyn De Blick’s wound after surgery
Katelyn revealed that it took several months for the wound to fully heal, and she has now been left with a permanent scar the size of a 50p coin.
She described the ordeal as “traumatic” and admitted she now has a “deep fear of dentists” – and to this day she still experiences pain and sensitivity where the tooth used to be.
After being connected with the Dental Law Partnership, which carried out further investigations and analysis, it was disclosed that Katelyn’s dentists failed to diagnose and treat decay for years.
The progression of the decay led to an infected abscess, an emergency hospital admission, and the necessity for an operation and tooth extraction, all of which “could have been easily avoided”.
“It was frustrating and devastating to hear that, if they had just taken a few more minutes to clean (the tooth), then I wouldn’t have had to go through all of this,” she said.
The Dental Law Partnership took on Katelyn’s case in 2021 and it was successfully settled in January 2025, with her receiving £26,000 in an out-of-court settlement.
Petrie Tucker and Partners Limited, the company running the practice, did not admit any liability.
Katelyn, who has deposited the money into a savings account, hopes that no other young person has to experience what she went through.
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Sharing her advice to others, she said: “It’s always good to talk to someone and don’t be afraid to ask for help.”
Rebecca McVety from the Dental Law Partnership commented: “The distress and pain our client has experienced was completely unnecessary.
“If the dentists involved had provided more satisfactory treatment, her problems could have been avoided.”
Patients who suspect they may have received negligent dental care are advised to visit dentallaw.co.uk/dental-negligence-claims.