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An aspiring model claims she “looks like a monster” after her lip melted when a faulty dentist’s drill overheated, leaving her a permanent scar.
After having her wisdom teeth removed at Birmingham City Hospital, Jade Blinco woke in agony only realising the extent of the wound on her top lip when she took a selfie on her phone.

The 24-year-old, who admits to being scared of dentists, claims her chances of becoming a model have now been dashed, with no agencies willing to sign her up.

The NHS trust that runs the hospital have admitted liability, apologising to Blinco.

But she claims the scar she has been left with has cost her her job as a nursery assistant, claiming the children run scared when they see her.

Blinco, from Bilston in the West Midlands said she never expected to return home from the dentist permanently scarred.

She said: “The last three years have been horrendous as I have tried to come to terms with living with the horrific injury and scar I have been left with.

“I’ve always had a fear of dentists. I was scared of needles and sitting in the dentist’s chair.

“But I never expected something like this could happen.

“Even though I’d been in pain for a few months with my wisdom teeth, eventually the pain got too much and I was admitted to hospital.

I’d avoided it for so long but this was a last resort.”

The dentist explained what was going to happen and gave Blinco a contract to read and sign before the procedure.

She said: “They were putting me under general anaesthetic so he mentioned that but he never said there was a risk I could get injured.

“As soon as I woke up I felt excruciating pain. The nurse came over and asked how much pain I was in, from one to ten, and I said nine-and-a-half. At this point I didn’t know there was a burn.

“No-one told me what had happened, they gave me two doses of morphine and sent me back to sleep.

“They didn’t seem to know anything was wrong themselves. No-one noticed in the operating theatre.

“If you touch something that hot against the skin you’d know, you’d smell it or see smoke.

“But they must have left it, it feels like it has melted into my face.

“They were wearing heat protection themselves, but had put nothing on my lips.”

She said that when she regained consciousness she was in agony and knew something was wrong with her face immediately.

It was then that she found out about the burn.

She said: “When I came back round I wanted to see why my face hurt so much, but they wouldn’t give me a mirror, in the end I had to take a picture on my phone.

“As soon as I saw the huge burn I went crazy. It looked disgusting.

“I was screaming for my mum and was taken to a separate unit because I was causing so much of a scene.

“Eventually the nurse came and finally let me know that I had a burn. She said the doctor who did my operation was going to talk to me.
“But I wasn’t interested in what he had to say. He didn’t even apologise to me.

“I was so upset and he was not interested. I was crying in hysterics and all he was saying was to put burn cream on the injury.

“They gave me burn cream and liquid morphine and sent me home that day.

“I got a taxi home with Mum and was distraught.” She added: “I just felt ugly, being a model I took a lot of pictures of myself and took care over my appearance, and suddenly I looked a monster.

“I don’t want to be arrogant, but taking pictures of myself was my job and suddenly they looked hideous.

“I never imagined for one minute that I would wake from surgery to be told I had a serious painful burn that has scarred me for life.

“I’ve been told I may need plastic surgery to try and improve the appearance of my lip but it’s likely I will never look the same as before.”

Despite working hard in college to gain the qualifications to become a nursery worker, Blinco claims she had to give up her job because her scar was scaring the children in her care.

She added: “I had been a nursery nurse for two-and-a-half years. I loved kids, had studied for this job at college and got mostly As and Bs in my exams.

“When I went back to the nursery to hand in my sick note, the kids were horrified by what had happened to me. They looked really distressed and scared.

“I walked out in tears and knew then, for definite, that I couldn’t go back.

“No modelling agencies will take me any more with this scar. It was then my 21st birthday a couple of weeks later and that was ruined too.

“Luckily, my parents and my boyfriend, Levy, have all been really supportive.

“But now I have this permanent scar that changes constantly throughout the year and peels regularly, it’s disgusting.”

Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust have admitted full liability and legal teams are now negotiating a settlement.

Charlotte Cook, a medical expert from law firm Irwin Mitchell, who represented Jade, said: “Jade suffered a serious injury that has left her permanently scarred and has had a huge impact on her life and future.

“One of the most concerning elements of what happened is that the Trust’s investigation highlighted that it was aware the drill tool was prone to overheating after a previous instance of a patient suffering a lip burn.

“Jade’s injuries were totally unnecessary and could easily have been prevented.”

A spokesperson for the NHS Trust said: “We are very sorry for the distress experienced by Blinco.

“We apologised immediately after the incident in person and subsequently in writing to her. On the day of surgery an apology was given to Blinco by the senior surgeon which was reiterated the following day in the presence of family members.”

They added: “Our Chief Executive has also written to apologise to Blinco earlier this year. Since the incident we have changed all of our hand pieces ensuring that this issue will not occur again.”  —Dailymail.