Dental Practice failed to record consent for removing a bridge

What happened

Mrs G complained that a dentist removed her bridge and remaining rods during a consultation in early 2012, even though she explained that she could not wear dentures because she had a bad gag reflex. She said the dentist did not fully explain what he was doing.

Mrs G said she has had a few sets of dentures since but she was unable to tolerate them. She explained that this was affecting her daily life; she could not eat properly; has had to liquidise her food; and she no longer wants to leave her house.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. The decision to remove the bridge was reasonable and there was no viable alternative under NHS dental provision. The dentist made Mrs G aware of this possibility on numerous occasions. However, the Practice failed to complete a treatment plan for the bridge removal and therefore did not record Mrs G's consent for this procedure.

The Practice's response to Mrs G's complaint was unsupported by any evidence as it stated that her oral hygiene was poor, without details of this in the records. It also failed to complete basic periodontal examinations for Mrs G, but as there was no evidence of bone loss or tooth or gum disease, we did not conclude that these or any other dental problems would have been found if these examinations had taken place.

Putting it right

The Practice wrote to Mrs G to acknowledge the identified failings and apologised for their impact on her. It also produced three individual action plans to address its failure to: provide evidence–based explanations within complaint responses; conduct basic periodontal examinations in line with guidance; and complete the appropriate records to show explicit consent for procedures has been gained.