OFSTED has launched an investigation after a mother was accused of "overreacting" when she discovered her three-year-old son had suffered dental trauma.
Rachael Howard-Clegg, of Fenemore Road, Kenley, went to Cruwys Cherubs, in Warlingham, to collect her son Oscar – and was horrified when he smiled at her with a front tooth missing.
She told the Advertiser: "He is only three and children aren't supposed to lose them until they are six or seven.
"I asked him what had happened and he said he had run into something and knocked it out.
"A member of staff confirmed it but when I went to find the owner, Jean Cruwys, she was so blasé and said I was just overreacting.
"I took Oscar straight to the dentist who said he had dental trauma – there was a shard of tooth sticking into his gum which would have to be operated on if it got infected.
"The dentist also said that no tooth would grow back for years so the other teeth would crowd in around it and he would definitely have to get braces."
Mrs Cruwys denied the claims that the nursery had not taken proper care of the boy following the January incident and said she had "taken the entire matter seriously and acted in the correct way".
However Mrs Howard-Clegg, who took her son out of the nursery that day and has now moved him elsewhere, was so unhappy with the lack of response that she wrote a formal letter of complaint on March 12.
She added: "I have only received a letter of acknowledgement back and nothing has happened since. I don't understand why she won't engage with the issue."
Ms Cruwys, however, said she had discussed the matter with the parents at length and did not feel like there was anything else to offer after the mother's letter of complaint.
Oscar's mother has also written to education watchdog Ofsted about the incident and it this week confirmed it is investigating the nursery after several issues were brought to their attention.
An Ofsted spokesman said: "The safeguarding of children is of paramount importance to Ofsted and parents should be reassured that all complaints are investigated.
"As our investigations are on-going, we are unable to comment further."
