Dentists... Who to complain to?

LondonDiva

Toothsmith wrote:

It's a bit tricky, this one!

If you have no connection with the patient, you can't complain for them.

You can only really complain about how the incident has affected you. But, overhearing so much about another patient's treatment can obviously affect your confidence in this dentist being able to maintain patient confidentiality, which may in itself be grounds for a complaint.

What would you want the outcome to be?

A letter of complaint to the practice itself is always the place to begin.

The practice should acknowledge your letter within about 7 days with a copy of their complaints proceedure, and should give a proper response to your complaint within a couple of weeks. (All practices must have an in-house complaints proceedure) The copy of their complaints proceedure should detail where you can take the complaint to if you don't get a satisfactory response from the practice.

If there is no response to your complaint, go to the dental section of the PCT for the practice's area. (Don't go to them first though or they will only direct you to the practice's own complaints proceedure.)

Yes & no;)

If it is a complaint about NHS treatmnent, the practice should acknowledge within 2 working days and provide a full response within 10 working days.

If there is a reason for a delay in meeting this admittedly tight timescale, they should let you know and they may take a little longer to respond.

You can complain on behalf of your mother, if you get her signed consent. However, you do need to be careful as it appears that you may concentrate more about how you felt as a result than the issues with her treatment and how she feels.

You should also clarify whether she was being seen as an NHS patient or a private one.

Diva:)

DebbieJ_3

Toothsmith, how common is it for your jaw to crack when having a tooth extracted? Is this caused by a weak jaw or has the dentist done something wrong. This has happened to my partner who is now on antibiotics in case of infection. He has been told he will now have to wait approx. 3 months to be seen by the local hospital so they can take the tooth out.

There is nothing worse than a moaning other-half with dull tooth ache.

Toothsmith

DebbieJ wrote:

There is nothing worse than a moaning other-half with dull tooth ache.

And you feel you should just be able to sue someone for the grief of it!!! :rotfl: I know what you mean!!

What do you mean by the jaw 'cracking' - Has he had his jaw broken? If so, he should be seen an awful lot quicker than 3 months!

This CAN happen during a tooth extraction, although it is very uncommon, and not really any fault of the dentist, unless they are trying to get teeth out by kicking them!

What I think you mean is that the root broke during the extraction, (which makes a very loud crack if you're the patient) and now he's been referred to have the stubborn bit out at hospital.

This is a lot more common, and happens to us all now and again!! The practice has done the right thing in stopping and referring.

The pain he is sufferring is not really any worse than if the tooth had come out successfully, and it will die down over the next couple of days (All being well!) The only downside is, he will go through the same thing again when they get the missing bit out at the Oral Surgery department in a few months time! So buy in the earplugs for then!!

P.S. If he has private medical insurance, a lot of policies cover this proceedure privately.

nursiepoos

Sorry guys, I know im in the wrong place but im new here and for the life of me cant find the "New Thread" button

Here's my problem as brief as poss...Over a year ago I had an emergency root canal done by my NHS dentist, I was in agony for days and he squeezed me in one day and did it quite quickly. I noticed soon after that although the pain had gone I still found the tooth quite sensitive, esp when tapped gently.

I didnt complain as the agony had gone and i was left with a sensitive front tooth...pain score 4/10 rather than 10/10. 2 weeks ago i went for a regular check up and mentioned it to my new dentist (the one who did the treatment left soon after the root canal) who took an xray and said the tip of a metal instrument had been left behind.

I now feel sick to my stomach at the thought of this (all psychological i know but its still gross to me). She also said I could either go to a local private specialist dental surgeon at my own cost or wait 12-24 months for a nhs hospital app in which time I may lose the tooth.

I wrote to the practice manager to say I wanted no compensation, just for the object to be removed by her practice or for her to pay the bill from another specialist. Got a reply saying the dentist concerned is responsible not the practice. They have passed the letter on to him apparently but I dont have his address, dont even know if he's in the same city anymore.

As I am just allocated a dentist in this practice as an nhs patient, I have no choice, surely it is the practice that is liable. I dont remember signing anything that said they waived any responsibility for accidents.

Please please help. Im terrified I will lose either this tooth or my mind. Where do I stand???

A very sad and grossed out Nursiepoos (((((((

Toothsmith

It IS the dentist who is responsible, not the practice. The dentist will have indemnity cover for his actions.

BUT assuming he is still registered and still in the country, it shouldn't be too hard to persue your complaint.

Having an instrument break in a root canal is always a possibility during root canal proceedures. They are very fine instruments, and the canals can be very akward to access sometimes. Having one break in itself is not an actionable event. (That is you can't sue or really complain just because it's happened).

What IS actionable is the fact that the dentist hasn't told you it's happened. (You MUST be sure he hasn't told, not just that you can't remember).

The fact that the dentist doesn't work there any more is to your advantage now, as the notes on the event will still be at the practice, and yet the dentist involved won't have immediate access to them.

Ask the practice for a copy of the notes pertaining to the treatment ASAP. What is recorded in the notes is the dentist's defense. If it says he informed you of the breakage, and especially if that part is signed by you to confirm he told you, them there is no case.

If the notes are like the majority of notes of a rushed NHS dental practitioner, then they will probably only record the fact that a root filling was done on that day and bugg*r all else!

In which case he has absolutly no defense, and you should easily get you specialist fees without much trouble.

I would hope that the practice will give you every assistance here, but you may need to be a bit assertive in order to get the information you need quickly.

You will need to know the whereabouts of the dentist as well, and if the practice stalls on this, a word with the local PCT complaints department, or even a solicitors letter to the dentist who owns the practice should speed things up.

Remember that any legal fees will be reclaimable as well, so if you do have a case the cost of the letter will be refunded too.

If the notes of the event are poor, then the dentist's defense body will want it all settled as quickly as possible, and if you are prepared to keep your demands reasonable (i.E the cost of sorting it out properly) then you should find it goes through pretty quickly.

Remember - if you do loose the tooth, the cost of getting it sorted out rises to the cost of an implant - so it's in everyone's interest to sort it out quickly.

It's worth pointing out as well that you have 3 years from discovering the error to make a claim. (That is from you finding out that an error has been made - not 3 years since the error was done.)

Hope this helps.

PM me if you have any trouble.


P.S. I do know of some cases wher practice owners have been held liable for the actions of associates, but it is much easier if you go to the dentist who did the treatment.

Toothsmith

One thing I should have mentioned above - It is by no means a certainty that if an instrument breaks in a root canal, problems will follow.

If an instrument breaks early on in the proceedure, with dead nerve and infection still below it, then it probably won't settle down.

If it breaks later on when some cleaning and disinfection has taken place, then the broken instrument is just filling up the canal in the same way that the filling would, and everything might well be perfectly OK.

So it's not always necessary to run off to a specialist as soon as it happens. A bit of 'wait and see' is quite in order - as long as the patient is told.

mda99das

crazychemist is an incompetant patient. I would sue her if she tried anything funny, and I would take it far...