£3,000 bill over pebble in sandwich

Karen Addy, 48, bought the wholemeal snack from Boots and was tucking into it when she felt a sudden crunch and found a small pebble among the salad filling.

The bite led to an abscess, a prescription for painkillers and

antibiotics and her tooth being removed.

She also had difficulty eating before she finally underwent four dental procedures over the past five months.

Her ordeal began when she bought the carrot, hummus, rocket and alfalfa sandwich made by Fresh Naturally Organic in November 2006.

Mrs Addy, of Holmfirth, said: "I was just chewing away when suddenly I felt this obstruction as I bit down.

"I felt my teeth crunch and then I discovered this stone.

"I emailed the manufacturer to complain about what happened. Eventually they just said there was nothing they could do about it and Boots gave me a refund but the pain got worse and worse so a couple of weeks later I went to see my GP."

Mrs Addy's face began to swell up and she was given painkillers but an abscess soon began to develop.

The offending tooth, which had been driven into the gum by the stone, had to be removed in February 2007. But the full cost of the dental treatment only became apparent after she went for another check-up afterwards.

She was told she would need to have titanium implants in her jaw, which had been weakened by the removal of her tooth and the efforts of her other teeth to close the gap.

Because of the massive cost of the treatment, she was advised to seek legal help so she could claim for the costs of the operations from Fresh Naturally Organic .

It meant she had to endure pain in her mouth until a legal settlement was agreed which would pay for procedures which were eventually carried out earlier this year.

After starting a civil case, her legal team from Russell Jones and Walker entered negotiations with the company from the summer of 2008 until the firm agreed to pay for her treatment in January this year. But compensation has yet to be agreed.

Mother-of-two Mrs Addy, who lives with 47-year-old husband Brian, said: "Overall I had to have four procedures over the last five months, with a bone graft in February, titanium implants in my jaw in May, an impression of my teeth in June and then an implant in my teeth and a crown earlier this month.

"It has been a really stressful ordeal and it's dragged on for such a long time but I am glad that all of the treatment is finally done. I can finally eat apples again; I had completely forgotten what they tasted like and it's a relief to have everything sorted out."

A company spokesman for Fresh Naturally Organic apologised to Mrs Addy, saying its normally high standards had not been met.

He said: "We are very sorry that this incident occurred and it is not a normal occurrence.

"All of our products are of a good quality and, as an organic company, we try to go that extra mile but sadly in this case those standards haven' been met."