A dental practice in the Hampshire area

3. Mr U complains that when his mother, Mrs U, attended the Practice for a tooth extraction in June 2021, the dentist extracted a perfectly healthy tooth, leaving the broken tooth that was the cause of his mother’s pain.

4. Mr U says his elderly mother was left in considerable pain and was very upset and distressed. She lost all confidence in the dentist and the Practice and had to seek alternative private treatment, at a cost to her, to have the correct tooth extracted to rectify the problem. The whole episode caused her a great deal of stress and anxiety.

5. Mr U wants the dentist to be investigated and disciplined for professional neglect to an elderly patient. He seeks reimbursement of the private costs his mother had to pay to address the failures in the dentist’s treatment.

7. Before we decide if we should conduct a detailed investigation of a complaint, we look at whether there is an organisation that is better placed to deal with the concerns. Some complaints can be looked at by us, and also by other organisations. We have considered whether another organisation is better suited to giving an answer to the complaint, and whether it can provide the outcomes Mr U seeks.

8. Mr U has told us that his mother went to the dentist for a tooth extraction, as she was in pain from a broken tooth. The dentist carried out what they themself described as a ‘difficult extraction’. Mr U says once the anaesthetic had worn off, his mother was certain that the broken tooth had been left and the dentist had extracted a ‘perfectly healthy tooth’.

9. Mr U has told us what is most important to him is that the dentist is investigated and disciplined for their poor professional conduct and practice. The main outcome he seeks is an investigation into the dentist’s competence and registration to practice as a dentist. He seeks to ensure that this does not happen again to another patient, particularly an elderly patient like his mother.

10. We have explained to Mr U that in complaints where we find failings, we can make recommendations for an apology and for service improvements linked to the failings we have identified. We do not have the remit or authority to discipline individual clinicians or to consider their fitness to practice.

11. The body with authority to consider this is the regulatory body for the profession. In this case the regulatory body is the General Dental Council (GDC).

12. We also considered the financial outcome Mr U seeks. He told us, if possible, he would want the costs of his mother’s later private dental care re-imbursed, as he did not think it was fair his mother had to pay increased charges to have the correct tooth extracted. He told us he is not looking for general financial compensation.

13. Where we do find failings in complaints we investigate, we can in certain circumstances award a financial remedy to reimburse private dental costs if we consider there was no other option than to seek private healthcare.

14. Given our discussion with Mr U, and having considered our Service Model Guidance, we consider he could approach the GDC with his complaint. Mr U has told us he was not previously aware of the GDC or its role in regulating the dental profession. He has indicated a willingness to approach them.

15. As we consider the GDC could address the issues Mr U has raised and would be best placed to achieve the key outcomes he seeks, we will not take any further action on this complaint.

1. We have carefully considered Mr U’s complaint about a dental practice in the Hampshire area (the Practice). We consider there is another organisation that is better placed to deal with the concerns Mr U has raised.

2. We are sorry to hear about Mr U’s concerns and the distress and anxiety his mother suffered following her dental treatment in June 2021. Mr U’s main concern is the professional competence of the individual dentist who treated his mother given what he considers to be the serious mistake in her care. He seeks sanctions and disciplinary action against the dentist to make sure this cannot happen again. We consider the General Dental Council is better placed to deal with these concerns.