Sheffield Girl, 6, has Teeth Removed during Leg Surgery

A hospital in Sheffield has removed a six-year-old girl's teeth - during an operation on her legs.

Sarah Morrison's parents contacted the police after Sheffield Children's Hospital removed five of her teeth.

Sarah suffers from brittle bone disease and has had more than 200 broken bones since she was born. The surgery was to insert metal rods into her legs to make them stronger but her horrified parents discovered that surgeons had also removed five of her teeth.

Dad Philip Morrison said: "After the surgery I was outside the hospital when my partner rang me in a very erratic state, crying and screaming.

"At that point I thought Sarah had died. I ran down to the recovery room where I first got a glimpse of Sarah with a mouth full of blood. I was horrified.

"They didn't mention at any point that her teeth might be taken out - it wasn't even on the operation consent form.

"The hospital is adamant that baby teeth were taken. But two of them were adult teeth, I know because I have the baby teeth at home. We feel mortified and let down."

Sheffield Hospital maintained that the teeth were baby teeth and had to be removed because they posed a serious risk to Sarah's airway.

The hospital said her parents had spoken to a clinician before the surgery to discuss the care she may have needed. Her parents dispute that claim.

Hospital management were conducting an internal investigation but police said they would not be investigating.

They stole my teeth

Sarah suffers from a rare condition, osteogenesis imperfect. Her ribs were broken 30 times in the womb and she was not expected to survive for more than a few days.

Her parents had moved from Ireland to Sheffield to be closer to bone specialists at the hospital.

Morrison said: "She isn't going back there again. Sarah has been going mad about the missing teeth. She keeps putting her tongue up there saying 'they stole my teeth'."

A spokesman for Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust said the treatment provided for Sarah was done in her "best interests".

"She has a complex condition and had come in for a surgical orthopaedic procedure, during which five baby teeth needed to be removed while she was under general anaesthetic.

"They were very loose and were judged to pose a serious risk to her airway. No harm was caused to her by the removal of these baby teeth.

"As an issue has now been raised by her parents, we will review this as we do with any concern. No action has been taken against any members of staff."