A beauty therapist has received £28,000 compensation after a botched dental procedure left her with gaps in her teeth, a blocked ear and fragments in her sinus.

Masami Ohta, 43, of Caledonian Road, Islington, sued Dr Tamas Balsai of the Perfect Smile Dental Practice in Shepherd’s Bush after implants failed within six months and debris was left in her jaw.

Mrs Ohta was not told that her smoking could have a significantly detrimental effect on implants, which would later fall out.

She first went to Dr Balsai for root canal therapy in July 2010, before a four-day trip to Budapest, Hungary, in November that year where Dr Balsai would put in three implants and four crowns.

“I was happy with the idea [of going to Budapest] as it was going to save me a lot of money,” said Mrs Ohta.

Once there, Dr Balsai told her that she would need a sinus lift to accommodate two of the implants.

“This was the first I had heard of this, so I was bit shocked,” she said.

“It was quite a big operation and Dr Balsai was not terribly gentle. He actually damaged one of my new upper tooth crowns when fitting the lower ones.”

In December 2010, Mrs Ohta was back in Shepherd’s Bush having various crowns adjusted and replaced.

“I knew something wasn’t right now,” she said. “There were gaps in my teeth, I couldn’t eat properly and my gums swelled up. I also had a continuously runny nose and was starting to get pain from a blocked right ear.

“They said it was caused by weak general health, a reference no doubt to my smoking,” said Mrs Ohta. “I was in real pain now and the implants and crowns were moving.”

Just a few months later, the implants and crowns fell out completely.

In March 2012 Mrs Ohta was referred to a new dentist who did a CT scan and found that her sinus was full of fragments of graft material that would need removal.

He told her that she would need a second sinus lift so that the implants could be replaced. If this did not ease her symptoms, she would have to be referred to an ear, nose and throat specialist.

Masami then contacted the Dental Law Partnership (DLP) who took on her case.

Evidence presented to Heather Owen from DLP revealed that the standard of care was far below what was expected of Dr Balsai. “It is a scarcely believable story of errors which caused significant suffering to our client.”

A hearing of the General Dental Council’s professional conduct committee in June last year found that Dr Balsai “failed to identify that Mrs Ohta was not suitable for the procedure”, gave “poor quality treatment” and “failed to provide adequate post-operative care”. He was suspended from practising for six months.

Dr Balsai, who has since had his licence reinstated, but with conditions, settled out of court but did not admit liability.