A MAN whose jaw was broken during dental surgery he did not need has won £15,000 in compensation.

Clive Horsey, who lives in Radlett, has been left with permanent numbness and still struggles to eat certain foods after the shambolic procedure.

The 58-year-old had been booked into have four teeth removed by his dentist under general anaesthetic at Barnet Hospital.

But there, the doctors told him they would be taking a fifth tooth out - something which left him with concerns.

He said: “I’d been under the impression that I was just having four teeth out.

“So I was slightly concerned to suddenly be told another tooth needed to be extracted, but trusted the surgeons knew what they were doing.”

Mr Horsey went through with the surgery under general anaesthetic but when he woke up, he was told there had been “complications” during the fifth tooth removal and his jaw had been fractured.

“I remember my heart just sank. I didn’t know then what affect it was going to have on my life,” he said.

After his dental records before surgery had been analysed, X-rays showed there had been no clinical reason to extract the fifth tooth at all.

There was no decay or other conditions that suggested it needed to be removed, and its “awkward” position made the extraction procedure more complicated.

Since the jaw fracture, Mr Horsey says he struggles to move his mouth properly and the numbness makes it difficult to eat certain foods.

He added: "It’s horrible. I am so angry.

“If the surgeon hadn’t extracted this tooth he never would have fractured my jaw. To think the tooth never even needed to be removed in the first place is soul destroying,” Mr Horsey added.

The Radlett resident complained to the then Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust, now the Royal Free, but found them “unresponsive”.

He took up his case against the trust in 2014 and it was settled in September this year when the trust paid £15,000 in an out of court settlement.

The NHS Trust denied liability.

The Royal Free did not respond to requests for comment.