The lingual nerve in your mouth is important because it is responsible for sensation in the front of your tongue and the bottom of your mouth. If it is damaged during dental treatment, you could face months of suffering or, in some cases, permanent problems. Damage to the lingual nerve is possible during wisdom tooth removal (particularly the bottom set) or during surgery to fix fractures in the facial bones. If you suffer an avoidable tongue injury during surgery or dental treatment, you could seek lingual nerve damage compensation.

During the course of this guide to lingual nerve damage compensation claims, we will explain what types of negligence might allow you to claim, explain how a medical negligence solicitor could help, and show you what a compensation claim could be worth.

To see if we could get your claim started today, call us on 0800 6524 881. To find out more about lingual nerve damage claims before contacting us, please read on.

Am I Eligible To Claim Compensation For Lingual Nerve Damage?

Medical negligence solicitors that offer No Win No Fee services take on most of the risk during a compensation claim. Therefore, they do need to check that there is a fair chance of success before taking on new cases. To do this, they will check that:

• The medical professional breached their duty of care because of a negligent act; and
• You suffered lingual nerve damage as a direct result of that negligence. This is referred to as causation.

As your solicitor is not a medically trained professional, they cannot determine whether the defendant has been negligent on their own. Instead, they will use independent specialists to review the treatment you were given and check whether it was carried out correctly.

The test for breach of duty is called the Bolam test. This is where a panel of similarly qualified professionals will check whether they would’ve treated you in the same way given the same circumstances. If they decide that your lingual nerve damage was avoidable and you wouldn’t have been injured if the defendant had acted differently, you could be eligible to claim for your suffering.

You should not be too concerned about proving dental negligence has caused your injuries at the beginning of your claim. That is something that your solicitor will explore if your case is taken on. There is a raft of evidence that they could use to help establish negligence. As well as using independent specialists, your medical records could be reviewed and you could provide a statement to explain what happened from your point of view as well.

If you would like us to check whether you have the grounds to claim lingual nerve damage compensation, please get in touch today.

Scenarios Where Injury To The Lingual Nerve Could Occur

As we mentioned above, a claim for lingual nerve damage compensation might be possible if your injury was avoidable. Some examples of this being the case include where:

• A dentist fails to protect the lingual nerve during wisdom tooth extraction.
• If other alternatives to surgery were not considered prior to treatment.
• Where the risks of the surgery were not discussed with you before you went under the knife.
• Where a tooth was not extracted fully and left you at risk of damage or infection until it was.

Common Symptoms Of Lingual Nerve Damage

Here are some of the most common symptoms associated with lingual nerve damage:

If you have experienced any of these symptoms, you may have suffered nerve damage. In many cases, this will be temporary and will reside over a 6 to 8-week period. However, in more serious cases, lingual nerve damage can cause some permanent symptoms.

Treating Lingual Nerve Damage

While some damage to the tongue’s nerves should ease after a while, any ongoing symptoms may require treatment. This might include:

• Steroid treatment.
• Pain killers.
• Anti-inflammatory medicines or tablets.
• Surgical procedures.

The solicitors we have on our team will always try to arrange for treatment to be administered before your claim is settled where possible. If the defendant’s insurers agree, it may be possible to arrange private medical care if you require surgery. This means they could make an interim payment before your claim has been finalised to help reduce your symptoms as soon as possible.

To find out more about claiming lingual nerve damage compensation, please call our team today.

How Much Compensation For Lingual Nerve Damage Could I Claim?

To be blunt, we can’t realistically give an accurate estimate without knowing exactly what’s happened, how badly you’ve suffered, the effect the nerve damage has had on your life, and the future prognosis.

However, when calculating compensation for lingual nerve damage, your solicitor will need to base your claim on two heads of loss and provide evidence for each. They are:

• General damages. This is the part of your claim that focuses on how much pain, suffering and loss of amenity was caused. Loss of amenity is where a value is placed on things that you can no longer do (even temporarily) because of your lingual nerve injury.
• Special damages. You could also claim back any costs or losses linked to your injuries. For example, you might be able to claim back any lost earnings, medical expenses, or travel costs.

If you’d like to you can read more on these damages here.

To help prove the extent of the injury to your lingual nerve, you will need a medical assessment. This is nothing to worry about and medical negligence solicitors are usually able to book them locally.

How Long Do I Have To Make A Claim For Lingual Nerve Injury?

As with all personal or medical negligence claims, you must claim compensation for an injury to your lingual nerve within the allowed time limits. According to the Limitation Act 1980, you have 3-years to claim. This will either start on:

• The date of the negligent act; or
• When your injuries were diagnosed – the date of knowledge.

If you are a parent or guardian who wants to claim on behalf of a child who has suffered lingual nerve damage, the 3-year time limit does not apply. This is true if you make the claim before the child becomes 18 years old. If that doesn’t happen, they’ll have 3-years to seek damages themselves from the date of their 18^th birthday.

Our advice is that claims should usually be made as soon as possible. By doing so, your solicitor will have plenty of time to gather evidence and arrange the medical assessments needed as part of the claims process.

Medical Negligence Solicitors And Lingual Nerve Damage Compensation Claims

As described earlier, proving medical negligence is not always an easy thing to do. For that reason, we suggest you’ll have more chance of being compensated fairly if you have a specialist solicitor on your side. They will have the legal skills and acumen to present evidence clearly to try and give you the best chance of winning your case. If your lingual nerve damage compensation claim is taken on by one of our team of solicitors, they can:

• Review your suffering in fine detail so that they fully understand how you’ve been affected.
• Arrange medical assessments.
• Gather evidence.
• Deal with the defendant’s questions and objections on your behalf so that you don’t need to answer complex medical queries.
• Keep you up to date during the claims process.
• Attempt to secure the maximum amount of compensation for you.

Should a compensation offer be tabled by the defendant, it will be reviewed with you before anything else happens. If it is felt that the amount is not correct, your solicitor will negotiate for a fairer settlement.

Starting The Lingual Nerve Damage Claims Process

To start the lingual nerve damage claims process with us today, please call 0800 6524 881. We’ll check your options right away and could appoint a No Win No Fee solicitor to your case.

Thanks for reading this guide to lingual nerve damage compensation claims.