An eight-year-old girl with a fear of dentists starved to death because she would not open her mouth after she had eight milk teeth removed, an inquest was told yesterday.

Sophie Waller refused to eat, drink or speak after her teeth were removed, and died at home from kidney failure caused by dehydration, 23 days after the operation.

A senior doctor at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro admitted that Sophie had been the victim of below-standard care.

John Ellis, a consultant paediatrician, told the inquest in Truro: “There was a fall below standards. The death has had a wide impact across all disciplines at hospital trust level and I have implemented changes myself.”

The girl’s mother, Janet Waller, said Sophie developed a fear of dentists when her tongue was nicked during a routine checkup when she was 4. When she loosened a milk tooth on a sweet, she refused to allow a dentist to look at it. Eventually her parents took her to hospital, where Tamsin Hearle, a specialist in paediatric dentistry, took all Sophie’s milk teeth out.

She said that a form had been signed for all eight teeth to be removed. “Because Sophie would not open her mouth for examination, I wanted to eliminate any further dental problems.”

Mrs Waller, 34, a nursery nurse, said that her daughter was devastated when she found out her teeth had been removed. She said: “I signed a form to consent to have one tooth removed, but not eight. She didn’t like dentists already, so she was very freaked out. She had blood running all down her face. It was very scary for her. She soon needed a feeding tube because she stopped eating and drinking.”

Sophie was kept in hospital for 11 days and fed through a tube before being sent home. She continued to refuse to open her mouth, and when her parents tried to feed her she would not swallow.

Mrs Waller said she had tried to get Sophie readmitted but was referred to Kerry Davidson, a child psychologist, who assured her that her daughter would be all right and made an appointment to see her the following week.

At the time of her death, Sophie had become so emaciated that she was unable to walk, her hair was falling out and her skin flaking. The inquest was told that she had lost 11kg (24lb), almost a third of her body weight.

Mrs Waller found Sophie dead in bed at their home in St Dennis, Corn-wall, on December 2, 2005.

Sophie’s father, Richard Waller, said that they tried without success to get help as her condition deteriorated. Mr Waller, 34, a taxi driver, said: “I was phoning Kerry Davidson every day, sometimes twice a day, to say how unwell she looked.

“I kept asking her to come round but she said she would next week and there was nothing to worry about.

“I got so worried I decided to take her to the hospital. We were on the way out the door when they told us not to come in. The hospital would not do anything and child welfare would not do anything.

“Sophie’s death could easily have been avoided if we had just got her back to hospital instead of listening to that woman, if I had said, ‘No, we’re going anyway’.”

Marie Ann Brundler, a paediatric pathologist, said that the immediate cause of death was kidney failure as a result of starvation and dehydration.

Dr Ellis said that Sophie had been putting on weight, eating and drinking when she was discharged. He believed that she had developed “mutism” because of her phobia.

The inquest continues today.

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