Dentist gave inappropriate treatment at patient's request

What happened

Mr J had a cracked tooth. He went to a dental hospital for emergency treatment and a dentist put in a temporary filling. He made an appointment to see his own dentist but had to cancel several appointments. When he went to the Dental Practice he asked the dentist to top up the temporary filling with a permanent one. The dentist was reluctant to do so, but went ahead because Mr J insisted.

The same day, the Dental Practice wrote to Mr J saying it had removed him from its list of patients due to a perceived breakdown in the patient/dentist relationship, and Mr J's failure to attend appointments.  Mr J later had pain in the tooth and had it taken out at adental hospital.

Mr J complained about his removal from the Practice's list and about the care and treatment he received from the dentist.

He said he had been left without a dentist for some time, suffered pain, and lost the tooth.

What we found

We partly upheld this case. The Practice had removed Mr J appropriately and followed correct procedures. There was a breakdown in the patient/dentist relationship, and Mr J had cancelled a number of previous appointments. However, the dentist should have X-rayed the tooth, removed the temporary filling, and replaced it with a permanent filling. If the dentist was reluctant to carry out the treatment Mr J wanted, she should have refused to treat him rather than carry out inappropriate treatment. There was therefore a failing in the care and treatment the dentist provided for Mr J. While we could link the lack of care and treatment to the pain Mr J subsequently experienced, we could not directly link it to the need for extracting the tooth.

Putting it right

The Practice apologised to Mr J and paid him £250 for the pain he experienced.