B.C. man who chipped tooth fails to make restaurant pay for dental fees

A salad made with red and purple tomatoes is shown. (Andrew Davis, The John Innes Centre, U.K.)

A man who claims he chipped his tooth at a restaurant failed his attempt to make the establishment pay for his dental expenses at the B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal.

Xueliang Shen claimed $4,067.30 from a restaurant – which is only referred to by its incorporation number in the decision issued Monday – saying he bit a small, hard object while eating a salad on New Year’s Day 2024 and felt pain in one of his teeth.

Shen went to his dentist on Jan. 3, who found and removed a tooth fragment, according to the decision. He then emailed the restaurant’s owner asking it to cover his expenses and any future treatment.

The restaurant argued Shen did not show the “alleged foreign object,” so it was therefore not liable.

“The fact that the applicant fractured his tooth does not, on its own, prove the respondent breached their duty of care,” tribunal member Max Pappin wrote in his analysis of the case.

In an email to the restaurant, Shen said he saw the object but lost it, and described it as “not a rock, but more like small metal particles (or very hard rock).”

A photo of the meal the applicant submitted to the CRT showed the salad was served on the same plate as ribs.

“Without evidence of the foreign object, it seems just as likely that the damage may have been caused by something else, such as a bone or peppercorn that found its way into the salad,” Pippin wrote. “This scenario, on its own, would not indicate that the respondent breached the standard of care required because it is reasonable that a bone or peppercorn may be found in a meal that includes ribs.”

Pippin suggested the Shen’s evidence would be much more convincing if he submitted an expert opinion on the nature of the fracture, as that would allow him to decide whether the injury was from biting a foreign object or if there were other likely causes.

“Without additional evidence, I find that the applicant has not proven that the respondent breached the standard of care when it prepared and served the salad,” he concluded. “So, I find that the applicant has not proven the respondent was negligent and I dismiss the applicant’s claims.”