Report type
Dental records review reports
An opinion from the notes and radiographs, where the question does not require examining the claimant.
Purpose and limits
What this report does
A records review is an expert opinion based on the clinical records, radiographs and correspondence, without a clinical examination.
It suits questions that live in the documents: whether treatment met the standard, whether a radiograph was misread, whether the records support the account given.
A breach and causation opinion, a screening report or a standard-of-care opinion can all be delivered as a records review where the question allows it. What defines it is the absence of an examination.
View breach and causation reports →The hard part
What a records review cannot reach. And saying so.
A records review is limited by what is in the file, and an honest one states its limits rather than reaching past them.
It cannot establish the current clinical picture — the mobility of a tooth, the present state of the supporting bone, a symptom the claimant reports today. Where the question needs those, the report says an examination is required rather than guessing. And where the records themselves are incomplete, the report identifies what is missing and what could not be determined as a result.
The expert does not fill a gap in the notes with an assumption. A records review that reads as though the expert saw the patient is a records review that will not survive cross-examination.
Instruction context
When a records review is enough
- 01
Breach opinions on treatment
Where the records show what was done.
- 02
Screening
Where a preliminary view can be formed from the papers.
- 03
Radiograph interpretation
Where the image is the evidence.
- 04
Where the claimant cannot be examined
And the question can still be answered from the file. Where it turns on the claimant’s current condition, a records review is not enough, and we will say so before you instruct.
For instructing solicitors
Why solicitors instruct us
We tell you when a review will not answer the question
A records review is cheaper, and it is the wrong instrument for a question that needs an examination. We will say which you have.
The records are read in full
Dental claims are built on the pattern across a course of care, not one entry. Our experts read the whole file.
A named case manager
One consistent point of contact from first enquiry through to delivery of the report, who tells you where the instruction stands before you ask.
Deferred terms for CFA-funded cases
For cases funded under a conditional fee agreement, payment can be deferred to the conclusion of the claim where agreed in writing.
Frequently asked questions
Before you instruct
Yes, where the question can be answered from the records and radiographs. Where it needs the current clinical picture, an examination is required.
No. It is a method. It is the right one for some questions and the wrong one for others.
The report identifies what is missing and what could not be determined. It does not assume what an absent record would have shown.
When the question turns on the claimant’s present condition — prognosis, current symptoms, the state of the supporting tissues.
Discuss an instruction
Need a records review?
Tell us the question and a case manager will send a suitable CV and a fixed quote.