A father-of-three bled to death after TEN teeth were removed during a trip to the dentist, an inquest heard.
Tragic Neville Gillespie, 53, died just hours after an operation at Tiverton Dental Centre – where he had six more teeth extracted than originally planned.
The former lorry driver – described as someone who “would do anything for anyone” – returned to the practice a few hours later when his mouth failed to stop bleeding.
But he was then sent away with wads of cotton wool, his brother Harold Gillespie, 60, told the court.
Relaying the night of horror at an inquest into his brother’s death, Harold said hours later he woke to find Neville slumped over and covered in blood.
Harold, who lived with his brother in Tiverton, Devon, said: “I called 999 who were talking me through how to give him CPR.”
Ambulance crews arrived just before 2am and paramedics described in a report to the coroner how the bed sheets were “soaked with blood.”
Blood was also splattered over Neville’s shirt and in his stubble.
A post mortem said he had died from aspiration of blood and bleeding following a dental extraction on January 22 last year.
At the inquest held at Devon County Hall in Exeter on Thursday, coroner John Tomalin heard Mr Gillespie was due to have just four teeth taken out.
He has been on a blood-thinning drug Clopidogrel which the coroner was told would make it difficult for clots to form to heal the sockets where teeth had been extracted.
The dentist Dr Roya Doane told the coroner the first four teeth were easy to extract.
But she said she was concerned for his welfare, suggested taking the additional four teeth out to save the patient further trips to the dentist.
Mr Neville agreed and asked for a further two teeth to be removed as they were causing him pain.
The coroner heard a report from a dental expert who said this was an act of “kindness” by Dr Doane and said she had not been negligent in her practice and the standard of care given was satisfactory in his opinion.
But another academic said that three to four teeth would have been advisory for removal, rather than ten.
Mr Gillespie was given advice on how to stop bleeding from Dr Doane and was told not to spit out blood as this would disrupt the formation of blood clots.
Evidence heard during the inquest found Mr Gillespie had been vomiting blood, according to his brother, and had been spitting into a bowl.
The coroner recorded a verdict of death as misadventure.
Speaking after the inquest, Harold said he was angry about the dentist taking out the extra teeth.
He said: “I’m still a bit annoyed and angry, but i don’t blame them anymore. It might’ve been just an accident.
“They should’ve stuck with four teeth. That should not have been done [taking out more teeth]. I don’t agree with that.
“It’s too many to come in one go, considering I just had the same operation a few months ago and they did mine over several weeks.
“But it was a different dentist.”
Harold described his brother as a caring man.
He added: “He was a lovely man, had loads of friends, he was a lorry driver for years.
“I miss him. Even his dog misses him. I look after his dog now. I wouldn’t know what to say [to the dental practice].”
Speaking after the inquest, Michelle Bunyan, the practice manager at Tiverton Dental Centre said they carried out a full investigation of their own and were happy with the outcome of the inquest.
“We want to offer our severe condolences to the family for this tragic event.
“We note the coroner has stated the care was satisfactory and no dental negligence was found.
“The dentist acted with kindness as outlined by the dental expert.
“Dr Roya Doane no longer works for the practice and hasn’t done for over a year.
“We pride ourselves on our standards and have recently had an unannounced independent CQC inspection and the practice passed with no issues.
“The CQC stated that they found the practice was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
“Finally, our thoughts are with the family at this sad time.”
Ms Bunyan added that the finding of their own investigation mirrored those of the coroner.
