An eight-year-old UK girl who died of starvation because she had an acute fear of dentists was failed by medical and professional authorities, a report has revealed.
Sophie Waller refused to eat, drink or sleep after her milk teeth became loose in March 2005, the Daily Mail reported.
Despite being taken to GPs and hospitalised, Sophie died in December that year of starvation-induced kidney failure weighing just 21kg.
After an operation to remove all her milk teeth in November 2005 she was left so traumatised that she refused to open her mouth, forcing her to be fed by a tube.
But despite this she was sent home from hospital where she died in her bed four weeks later, after losing 11kg in just three weeks.
Before her death Sophie had been force-fed mashed up fruit and yoghurt by her parents.
The report blamed a failure of communication between health officials and her parents for her death.
She had developed the phobia of dentists at the age of four when one accidentally cut her tongue during a procedure.
News home