DT News - UK - Infection scare dentist taken off register

Dental Tribune International

Thu. 25 August 2016

save

LONDON, UK: The General Dental Council (GDC) has struck off a Nottingham dentist responsible for the largest recall of patients in the history of the NHS from its register last week. Desmond D’Mello was removed for reasons of misconduct owing to 55 allegations of failure to maintain basic standards of infection control or prescribe antibiotics without a thorough assessment of patients’ needs.

As a result, more than 22,000 patients were offered a recall for blood tests owing to the risk of exposure to infection in 2014.

His actions were revealed by a whistle-blower, who recorded some of the failings on video. The filmings showed that he did not change his gloves or surgical mask and wiped his hands on his trousers instead of washing them, among other gravely hazardous practices.

In connection with D’Mello, the GDC also subjected one of his co-workers, a dental nurse who worked in the same practice, to conditional registration for a period of 12 months. She has admitted to 27 of the allegations, the council said.

“Mr D’Mello has abused the trust of his patients in exposing them to serious risk of harm and subjected those patients affected to an appalling and agonising ordeal as they undergo invasive blood-testing,” commented the chairperson of the GDC’s Professional Conduct Committee, Gavin Scott, on the decision. “His behaviour is fundamentally incompatible with being a dental professional, and his behaviour is so damaging to public confidence in the dental profession.”

D’Mello did not attend any of the hearings or have legal representation. In a letter to the GDC last year, he applied for voluntary erasure from the GDC register.

He stated too that he had no intention of ever practising dentistry again.

To post a reply please login or register

Dentist reported to police for using drone to take care of patient

WOMBOURNE, UK: In times of SARS-CoV-2, dentists are taking unusual measures to ensure that their patients receive medical care despite contact restrictions ...

Irish dentists warn of potential dangers of dental infection

DUBLIN, Ireland: The Irish Dental Association (IDA) has urged people to prioritise their oral health and not to ignore dental pain, gingival infection or ...

Residents line up for hours to register with dentist in Wales

LLANGOLLEN, UK: Hundreds of residents of the small Welsh town of Llangollen were photographed last week waiting for hours on end to register with a new NHS ...

Dentist health scare – shocking, but rare

The recent news that 22,000 patients of a Nottinghamshire dentist are being contacted and offered testing for blood-borne diseases, such as HIV and ...

Cornwall Council votes to take action on dentist shortage

CORNWALL, UK: A cross-party group of councillors in Cornwall have voted to take action over the growing access and recruitment problems facing NHS dental ...

Dentists with greater financial incentive take more radiographs

YORK, UK: Radiographs are useful in diagnostics, but they expose patients to potentially harmful radiation. Thus, with every radiograph they take, dentists ...

Eight in ten parents fail to take children to dentist

WINCHESTER, UK: A new survey of more than 3,000 adults in the UK has found that almost 80 per cent of parents in the country only took their children to the...

Dentists from Scotland share experience of emergency lockdown treatment

FORT WILLIAM, UK: Owing to strict government restrictions for controlling the spread of SARS-CoV-2, dental practices in Scotland were instructed to limit ...

Almost half of Brits do not visit or take their children to the dentist

LONDON – A recently published report about the UK dental consumer market has shown that only 52 per cent of the UK population visited the dentist ...

DCPs risk removal from register over non-compliance

LONDON, UK: Nearly 900 UK-based dental care professionals (DCPs) could be at risk of removal from the register after failing to make a compliant continuing ...

Education

Live webinar
Mon. 29 April 2024
5:30 pm UTC (London)