A dental practice in the Rushmoor area

7. Mr U complains about the treatment provided by the Practice between January 2025 and April 2025. Specifically, Mr U complains the Practice:

• did not follow the correct ‘sharps injury’ procedure after the clinician pricked their finger with a needle just before administering anaesthesia in January 2025 • refused to provide treatment for damaged fillings in April 2025; and • did not provide an impartial response to his complaint.

8. As a result of the above, Mr U says he experienced both stress and anxiety due to fear of contracting a bloodborne disease. He tells his experiences were deeply upsetting and painful, and that this has been exacerbated by the way his complaint was handled. Mr U adds he has also suffered from financial hardship as a result of seeking private dental treatment.

9. Mr U is seeking a financial remedy to cover the cost of private dental treatment, associated travel costs and to recognise the emotional distress he experienced.

Sharps injury

13. Before we decide if we should conduct a detailed investigation of a complaint, we look at whether there are signs the organisation has got something wrong. We do this by comparing what should have happened with what did happen. We have done this and have not found any indications that something has gone wrong.

14. On the day of his appointment, Mr U says the attending clinician accidentally pricked their own finger with a needle immediately before administering the anaesthetic. Mr U says the clinician continued with treatment and failed to follow the correct sharps injury procedure. Mr U says the clinician continued to administer anaesthesia without changing their needle or gloves.

15. A sharps injury is when a sharp object like a needle, scalpel, or broken glass pierces the skin.

16. In its response, the Practice advised that once the clinician pricked their finger, they excused themselves from the dental chair and followed the correct ‘sharps injury’ procedure. In its second response to Mr U, the Practice advised it had also discussed the complaint with the dental nurse present at the time of the appointment. The dental nurse confirmed they could not support Mr U’s complaint, as they were otherwise engaged in their nursing duties at the time.

17. When considering this aspect of Mr U’s complaint, we referred to the HSE Health and Safety (Sharp Instruments in Healthcare) guidelines. These guidelines outline what steps a health care clinician should follow when a sharps injury occurs. Specifically, the guidance encourages staff to allow the wound to gently bleed, wash the wound using running water and plenty of soap, then dry the wound and cover it with a waterproof plaster or dressing.

18. We considered Mr U’s patient records from the day of the appointment. The records demonstrate the dentist noted the injury, stopped, excused themselves from the dental chair and followed the correct ‘sharps injury’ procedure as per the HSE’s guidance outlined above.

19. When considering this part of the complaint, we paid particular attention to what Mr U told us and looked to see if there was any evidence in the medical records which we could use to support his account.

20. We have been unable to identify any records or any other supporting information which would allow us to challenge or criticise the information provided by the Practice. We appreciate how disappointing this will be for Mr U. For this reason, although we do not dispute what Mr U has said, we have not seen any indications of service failure in relation to this aspect of the complaint.

Issue 2 – Broken filling and complaint handling

21. Mr U complains about his dental fillings, which he says were completed in January 2025 and subsequently broke in April 2025. Mr U says he contacted the Practice requesting further treatment which was refused. Mr U also raises concerns about the way his complaint has been handled. Mr U states he was extremely dissatisfied with the complaint handling by the Practice. He says that his complaint was handled by the clinician involved in his care and not the practice management. He felt this approach was highly unprofessional and inappropriate.

22. We reviewed the information Mr U sent, including the Practice responses. We could not see the Practice responded to these aspects of Mr U’s complaint. We asked Mr U if he had raised these concerns with the Practice during a telephone call on 10 October 2025. Mr U was unable to confirm if he raised a formal complaint in relation to the refusal of treatment and the way his complaint had been handled.

23. The law prevents us from conducting an investigation unless we are satisfied the complaints process has been used and exhausted, or it was not reasonable to expect the complainant to have done so. Before we look at a complaint, we usually expect the complainant to have complained in full to the organisation.

24. We have looked at everything Mr U has sent us, and we consider his complaint is not yet ready for us. This is because it appears he has not completed the Practice’s local appeals process. We recognise and appreciate that this is because he has not raised his outstanding concerns.

25. It is important that the Practice has the chance to look at this aspect of the complaint, give a response, and put right any mistakes. Often this is the quickest way to resolve complaints. As such we cannot take any further action at this time. This means that we will close Mr U’s complaint while he completes the Practice’ local resolution process.

26. We have provided Mr U with further information on how he can go about doing this in our cover letter.

27. We realise this is unlikely to be the outcome Mr U was looking for when he approached us. We hope we have explained the thorough consideration we have given to our decision and clearly outlined the reasons for it. We would like to thank Mr U for bringing his concerns to our attention.

1. We have carefully considered Mr U’s complaint about a Dental Practice in Rushmore (the Practice). We were sorry to learn how Mr U had been affected by the concerns he has raised.

2. We have carefully considered the information provided by Mr U and the Practice, as well as the standards and guidance relevant to Mr U’s complaint.

3. Where Mr U has raised concerns about the Practice’ failure to follow the correct ‘sharps injury’ procedure, we consider there are no indications of service failure in relation to this aspect of the complaint. We were sorry to learn of Mr U’s concerns, and we understand the upset and distress that this experience has caused.

4. With regards to Mr U’s complaint about the fillings completed in January 2025 and his concerns about complaint handling, we consider we are unable to look into these aspects of Mr U’s complaint further as he has not yet raised these concerns with the Practice.

5. We are sorry we are unable to take further action on the concerns raised by Mr U.

6. We can see Mr U feels strongly about his complaint. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr U for bringing his complaint to us. We will explain our decision in more detail below. We hope our explanation provides him with reassurance about how carefully we have considered his complaint before reaching our decision.