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brook2jack2

Any procedure , however easy or complicated , done by any dentist , however experienced, can have things go awry. 

They are working in a tiny space , with tiny tools , and doing microsurgery on a conscious patient. 

A drill burr can come out , you would not often do a crown preparation under rubber dam so if it comes out it will go into your mouth. This is no different from a piece of filling or tooth not being sucked up. It happens , you spat it out , it is not negligence or an event that needs reporting it is something that can happen .

Undervalued

brook2jack2 said:

Any procedure , however easy or complicated , done by any dentist , however experienced, can have things go awry. 

They are working in a tiny space , with tiny tools , and doing microsurgery on a conscious patient. 

A drill burr can come out , you would not often do a crown preparation under rubber dam so if it comes out it will go into your mouth. This is no different from a piece of filling or tooth not being sucked up. It happens , you spat it out , it is not negligence or an event that needs reporting it is something that can happen .

Equally some people (even professionals) will take more care than others. Some will have more up to date equipment maintained to a higher standard. Some will be more prone to letting "life issues" affect their concentration at work.

Yes, genuine accidents can happen even to the most careful and conscientious people but they happen far more to those that are less diligent.

Most likely this dentist was one of the good guys and this was a next to unavoidable accident. However I don't see how you can say that for 100% certain about somebody you have (presumably) never met?

Toothsmith

Exactly what Brook says. Stuff happens. No harm done. But yes - it would shake both dentist & patient up a bit.

It could have cut you, you could have swallowed it. Worst case scenario you could have inhaled it. Had you inhaled it, it would have required an operation to remove it, which wouldn't have been nice - but even then, although that would have been a 'significant incident', it would not have been negligent. Just 'one of those things'. Very rare, but occasionally happen. The important thing then would have been how the dentist dealt with it. So long as you were informed, and promptly referred for an X-ray and onwards to someone who could deal with it, the dentist would have acted perfectly correctly.

So that is why something like that would shake the dentist up a bit. It was fine, but worse stuff could have happened.

Dental practices do keep 'significant incident' records. This episode wouldn't require entering into it, as no harm resulted. As Brook said, it is no more likely that this would have harmed you any more than a chip of tooth or filling falling into your mouth whilst working on the tooth.

fred246

I like the private bit. If I pay you more can you promise not to have any little accidents? I am sorry but whatever you pay little insignificant accidents are going to happen sometimes.

Morrigan_2020

Toothsmith said:

Dental practices do keep 'significant incident' records. This episode wouldn't require entering into it, as no harm resulted. 

Its good practice to record near misses and no harm incidents too. 

Toothsmith

Morrigan_2020 said:

Toothsmith said:

Dental practices do keep 'significant incident' records. This episode wouldn't require entering into it, as no harm resulted. 

Its good practice to record near misses and no harm incidents too. 

That's true. It would flag up if one practitioner was recording more than others in the practice - but then that could be down to more conscientious reporting? 

Morrigan_2020

Toothsmith said:

Morrigan_2020 said:

Toothsmith said:

Dental practices do keep 'significant incident' records. This episode wouldn't require entering into it, as no harm resulted. 

Its good practice to record near misses and no harm incidents too. 

That's true. It would flag up if one practitioner was recording more than others in the practice - but then that could be down to more conscientious reporting? 

Its also a good way to prevent near misses become incidents next time.

Emmia

Doesn't it depend on why the burr dropped into the mouth - was it perhaps not as tightly fitted as it could have been? That should be recorded as a near miss/minor incident as arguably that type of cause could have been avoided.

fred246

It probably fell in the mouth because that's where the teeth are normally found. It happens quite often with my Black & Decker. It doesn't normally fall in my mouth because I don't drill in there. I just have to put it back in and tighten the chuck again. Never bother with any paperwork.

pickledonionspaceraider

Sorry I know you are locking the thread, but wanted to say - even if you pay privately, there is no guarantee of anything happening different, if you look at my thread you will see why I say that