Woman battles three years for compensation after stone in a Boots sandwich lands her with £3,000 bill

Karen Addy, 48, found a small pebble amongst the "organic" salad filling.

It caused an abscess, leading to a prescription for painkillers and antibiotics, her tooth being removed and difficulty eating before she finally had 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.

Karen, 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, like one you would find on the ground.

"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 go and see my GP."

Karen's face began to swell up and she was given painkillers to help ease her suffering but an abscess soon began to develop.

She had the offending tooth, which had been driven into the gum by the stone, removed in February 2007.

But her battle had only just begun and the full cost of the treatment Karen would need was only hammered home to her after she went for another check up after the tooth was removed.

She was told that 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 teeth to close the gap.

Because of the massive cost of the treatment, Karen was advised to seek legal help so that she could claim for the costs of the operations from Fresh Naturally Organic - leaving her with pain in her mouth until she had the procedures done this year.

Ironically, the packaging for the sandwich Karen bought states on the back: "We're proud to tell you what's in our sandwiches and don't believe in hiding behind E numbers and ingredients that we can't even pronounce."

After starting a civil case, her team from firm Russell Jones and Walker thrashed out negotiations with the company from the summer of 2008 until they finally agreed to pay for her treatment in January this year.

Compensation has yet to be agreed.

Mother-of-two Karen, who lives with 47-year-old husband Brian, said: 'I couldn't afford to pay for it myself so I had to make sure that the money for the operation was taken care of by the company before I went ahead with it.

'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 its 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 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't been met."