Jaw Injury Claim Compensation Payout Calculator

Discover what makes up your lower and upper jaw, how your solicitor calculates the amount of compensation your jaw injury claim is worth with examples of compensation amounts for simple fractures, broken bones and permanent ongoing symptoms.

Jaw Injury Claim Payouts In 2023

We start our article with a brief table setting our how much you can claim for pain and suffering for a jaw injury claim.

Read on – We describe later in our article how your solicitor calculates these figures and the symptoms you need.

Watch out – you can claim additional compensation for financial loss and expense.

What is a jaw injury claim?

If you suffer injury to your jaw as a result of the legal fault or negligence of another – you may be entitled to claim compensation for your injury. This claim is known as a “jaw injury claim” for compensation or a personal injury compensation claim.

The injury may be caused in an accident (such as car accident or slip and trip) or as a result of some form of medical or clinical negligence.

Watch out – the amount of compensation you can claim for jaw injury caused by criminal injury is very different than the amount caused in an accident. Criminal injury claims are made via the CICA – which is subject to a compensation tariff scheme (basically a fixed amount of compensation set out as part of the scheme for each type of jaw injury.

What are the most common types of jaw injury?

When you use the word “jaw” you will typically be referring to the upper or lower jawbone and surrounding tissue.

Common jaw injuries might include:

Fractured jawbone

A broken or fractured jaw is perhaps the most common type of jaw injury.

The lower jaw bone is known as the mandible (the ramus is the part of the mandible to the sides and back of the lower jaw).

The lower jaw is the only moving bone on the face.

The upper jaw does not move and is made up primarily of the maxilla bone (with the alveolar process being the ridge of bone housing your upper teeth).

The upper jaw is technically part of your skull.

Dislocated jaw

You have two very complex joints in your lower jaw – known as temporomandibular joints or TMJ.

A dislocated jaw happens when the lower jawbone is forced out of its normal position.

Watch out – it is important to the correct functioning of your jaws that the upper and lower jaw are in line, so you can bite and chew your food effectively. A broken jawbone may lead to misalignment.

Fractured chin

Your chinbone is really just a the front part of your lower jawbone or mandible. A common lower jaw injury can include a fractured chin.

Jaw muscle damage

Your jaw muscle is one of the strongest muscles in the human body and attaches either side of your face and passes into your neck.

It is essential to your ability to eat – a torn or damaged jaw muscle can cause considerable pain and suffering.

Tendon or ligament tear

Your jaw is controlled by a number of ligaments and tendons all working together with muscles and joints to allow the subtle movements necessary to chew your food, speak and swallow.

Tendon and ligament tears in accidents can be quite common and any damage that affects the smooth functioning of the jaw can lead to temporomandibular disorder (TMD).

How does your solicitor calculate your compensation payout?

So long as your jaw injury is caused in an accident or as a result of medical negligence (such as a defective hospital operation, dental negligence or GP error) the amount of compensation you can claim in the UK will depend on the nature of your injury.

Medical report setting out your injuries

Your solicitor will obtain a medical report from an independent expert – normally a facial maxilla surgeon. This surgeon will have many years of experience in dealing with jaw problems and will describe in a medical report exactly the injuries your suffered, the symptoms you are now experiencing and will predict into the future your likely symptoms.

Claims decided by the courts for similar jaw injuries

Your lawyer can use this medical report to compare to other injuries decided by the courts in the past for a similar jaw injury claim and so determine a range of compensation amounts your settlement is likely to be worth. This type of compensation is for your “pain and suffering”.

Pain and suffering plus financial loss

In addition to your pain and suffering you can claim financial losses and expenses directly flowing from your injury, which could include lost income, medical expenses, etc.

Lost income from inability to work

You might find that a broken jaw might not affect your ability to work for too long a period, but for some jobs such as for a model – the lost income you might suffer might be significant and perhaps even ruin your career prospects for the rest of your life.

Criminal injuries calculated differently

If you suffer your jaw injury as a result of a criminal act of violence – your claim will be made against the CICA (Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority) and as this is a public body the amount of compensation you can claim will be less than in the civil courts. the amount is set by a tariff system decided by the CICA.

Examples of jaw injury claim compensation amounts for pain and suffering

Damage to your teeth can go hand in hand with a jaw injury. see our dental claim article setting out how much compensation you can claim for cracked and broken teeth.

The approximate amounts of compensation your could expect for a jaw injury claim which settles in 2023 are as follows:

Simple jawbone fracture payouts

Even a simple fracture which heals completely with no ongoing symptoms can lead to a great deal of pain and inconvenience. Such a jaw injury claim settlement is likely to calculated between £6,500 – £8,700.

Serious broken jaw compensation settlements

Fracture claims which are not clean or simple and perhaps lead to ongoing permanent symptoms, including a difficulty eating and moving the lower jaw will lead to average compensation payouts of between £18,000 – £30,500.

Multiple jaw fractures compensation amounts

In the worst type of fractured jaw injury you might suffer multiple fractures to the upper and lower jaw, you might need several operations, suffer from ongoing significant symptoms of pain, limited jaw movement and possible joint arthritis problems. For this type of jaw injury claim you are likely to have a compensation settlement between £30,500 – £45,500.

Summary

In this article we have set out the parts of the upper and lower jaw that can be injured in an accident with examples of the types and amounts of compensation you jaw injury claim is likely to be worth.

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