DT News - UK - UK dentist fails to spot mouth cancer, supervision instructed

Dental Tribune International

Wed. 27 June 2012

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KILMARNOCK – A dentist from Scotland has been placed under one-year supervision after failing to identify a cancerous ulcer in the mouth of a patient. The dentist had incorrectly diagnosed the three-centimetre ulcer as being the result of an injury and not referred the patient to a specialist.

As reported on the website dentistryiQ, even though the cancer was later diagnosed by another dentist, the patient, a 54-year-old psychologist from Germany, died in February 2011. His wife lodged a complaint about the first dentist with the General Dental Council, which has initiated disciplinary action against him for misconduct, saying that his failings represented a real harm to patients.

According to the council, the dentist not only failed to ensure the patient was urgently referred to a specialist, but also did not make sure that the man, who smoked up to 15 cigarettes a day and drank moderately, was provided with adequate smoking cessation advice.

The dentist, who works at a private practice in Kilmarnock, will have to be supervised by a senior colleague at his practice. Furthermore, the University of Glasgow, which sends dental students to the practice for work placement, announced that it would be suspending the arrangement for the next year, according to dentistryiQ.

The dentist is reported to have admitted to all charges and to have apologised. However, he denied that the patient had complained of swelling in April 2010, the third time he saw him.

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