A WOMAN described by a consultant surgeon as being "most unfortunate in appearance" when she smiled has begun a High Court action in which she is suing a dentist who performed an operation on her mouth 18 years ago.
Mrs Brid Kearney (41), Meenacuing, Gweedore, Co Donegal, claims the dental surgeon, Dr John O'Donovan, Griffith Avenue, Dublin, was negligent and in breach of his duty when he performed a surgical procedure on her in 1979. The defence is denying the claims.
Mrs Kearney, a schoolteacher, claimed that after the operation she suffered considerable pain, discomfort and disfigurement to the front of her mouth and was eventually referred to a consultant oral surgeon in 1983. He operated on her mouth in 1985 at Letterkenny General Hospital to remove gross deposits of amalgam.
It was stated that long waiting lists were responsible for the delay in Mrs Kearney having the operation. While she made a good recovery from the operation the disfigurement remained. The gum above all four central incisor teeth was very unsightly and blue-black in appearance.
Mr Justice O'Donovan yesterday reserved his decision until today on a claim made on behalf of Dr O'Donovan that Mrs Kearney's action was out of time.
Earlier in evidence, Mrs Kearney said she had believed the discomfort she continued to suffer and the discolouration of her gums were to be expected.
In 1983 she was referred by another dentist in Donegal to a consultant oral surgeon in Letterkenny General Hospital after she complained of swelling. The dentist told her there was a problem and she would need to see a specialist.
When she saw the consultant surgeon he told her there were foreign bodies in her gum which would require more surgery to remove.
Mr Terence Swinson, the oral surgeon who performed the operation on Mrs Kearney, said he had to carry out further surgery to two of Mrs Kearney's teeth and gross deposits of amalgam filling had been removed.
He said that X-rays carried out on Mrs Kearney's gums showed that the amount of amalgam used was grossly excessive, about 100 times more than what should have been used.
He claimed the excessive amount of amalgam used was likely to have brought on the infection.
Mr Swinson said the discolouration caused to Mrs Kearney's gums was there for life and was a very obvious deformity.