Case studies

A colleague causes concerns

21 December 2010

A dentist had concerns that a colleague’s clinical performance was becoming increasingly inconsistent.

A witness to fact

21 December 2010

A dentist received a request from the police to provide them with a report on a teenage girl’s dental condition. The member had seen the girl as an emergency appointment at the practice a few weeks earlier, after she had reportedly been involved in a fight after school.

Face-to-face with the PCT

21 December 2010

A patient complained to her local PCT that her dentist, a DDU member, had not carried out any treatment to address the pain she reported. The patient also complained that the practice failed to respond to her initial complaint.

Restoration story

21 December 2010

At a new patient consultation, a dentist, a DDU member, noted that the man in his 60s had heavily restored teeth which required some remedial work. UR6 was in poor condition and, in the dentist’s opinion, required crowning.

Retained root

20 December 2010

A dentist found himself the subject of a claim about a retained root from a previous extraction by another dentist years before.

Bad publicity

10 December 2010

A clinical director found his practice was the subject of a General Dental Council (GDC) investigation when, unknown to him, the practice advertised itself in the local Yellow Pages as a ‘centre of excellence’.

Denture dissatisfaction

10 December 2010

A patient complains of pain, distress and cosmetic embarrassment following the fitting of a new implant retained overdenture.

Get a grip

10 December 2010

A member’s inadvertent slip with a dental elevator during a routine extraction resulted in the patient making a claim.

Hidden trouble

1 August 2010

A dentigerous cyst was not apparent from the periapical radiograph

Holiday woes

1 August 2010

An incomplete extraction of a patient’s tooth required emergency treatment on