A Wembley man left with permanent nerve damage following a botched wisdom tooth extraction by a Sudbury dentist has won £37,000 in compensation.

Nicolas Ifill, has no feeling on the left side of his mouth, has developed a lisp and often bites his tongue after negligent treatment from Dr Michael Gilhooly at the Clementine Churchill Hospital, Sudbury Hill.

The dentist did not admit liability but paid the compensation in an out of court settlement.

Mr Ifill, an IT technical analyst, said: “It’s unbelievable. I have to constantly take pain killers, it’s very depressing. I now feel unable to talk properly which has hugely affected my confidence, but there is nothing I can do. I’ve just had to accept that I will have to live with the nerve injury for the rest of my life. It’s all because Dr Gilhooly wasn’t doing his job properly.”

The 34-year-old was referred to Dr Gilhooly in November 2015 for extraction of the right wisdom tooth who told him at a pre-operative consultation that the left wisdom tooth should also be pulled out.

A week after both teeth were extracted under general anaesthetic surgery Mr Ifill returned to the dentist in pain.

He said: “I could feel a painful burning sensation in my mouth. My tongue literally felt like it was on fire. I couldn’t eat properly and was struggling to talk.

“It was frightening because I had pain and numbness in my mouth that just wasn’t getting any better. But Dr Gilhooly didn’t seem concerned when I went back to see him. He eventually prescribed medication that would supposedly treat the problem but it didn’t.”

Two months later he contacted the Dental Law Partnership who reached the settlement in August this year.

The lawyers said analysis of his dental records showed that Dr Gilhooly had left his patient with permanent nerve damage after he failed to use reasonable skill and care when extracting his tooth.

He also failed to refer Mr Ifill to a nerve specialist when he complained of pain following the extraction which “could have helped rectify the problem”.

Daniel Kinnear of the DLP added: “What our client went through is completely unnecessary. If the dentist had provided adequate treatment in the first place all the problems he experienced could have been avoided.”