Report type
Dental records review reports
An expert opinion from the clinical records, radiographs and correspondence, where the question can be answered without examining the claimant.
Purpose and limits
What a records review is
An expert opinion based on the clinical records, radiographs and correspondence, without a clinical examination.
A breach and causation opinion, a screening report or a standard-of-care opinion can each be prepared this way where the question allows. It suits questions the documents answer: whether treatment met the standard, whether a radiograph was misread, whether the records support the account given.
Where the question turns on the claimant’s present condition, the expert needs to examine. We will say so before you instruct.
View condition and prognosis reports →Limits
What a records review cannot answer
A records review is only as complete as the file.
It cannot establish the current clinical picture: the mobility of a tooth, the present state of the supporting bone, or a symptom the claimant reports today. Where the question needs those, the report says an examination is required. Where the records 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.
Instruction context
When a records review is enough
- 01
Breach opinions
Where the records show what was done and when.
- 02
Screening
Where a preliminary view on the merits can be formed from the papers.
- 03
Radiograph interpretation
Where the image is the evidence.
- 04
Claimant not available for examination
Where the question can still be answered from the file.
For instructing solicitors
Why solicitors instruct us
We tell you when a review will not answer the question
A records review costs less than a report with an examination, and it is the wrong choice for a question that needs one. We say which your case needs before you instruct.
The whole file is read
Dental claims turn on the pattern across a course of care, not a single entry. The expert reads the full records, not a summary.
A named case manager
One point of contact from first enquiry to delivered report.
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.
FAQs
Commonly asked questions
Yes, where the question can be answered from the records and radiographs. Where it turns on the claimant’s present condition, an examination is required.
No. It suits some questions and not others, and the expert owes the same duty to the court as in any other report.
The report identifies what is missing and what could not be determined as a result. It does not assume what an absent record would have shown.
When the question turns on the claimant’s present condition: prognosis, current symptoms, or the state of the teeth and supporting tissues.
Discuss an instruction
Need a records review?
Tell us the question and a case manager will send a suitable CV and a quote.