Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

T he GDC have an- nounced that they have suspended David Smith, a dental technician, from office as a Council Mem- ber. This follows David Smith’s referral to the Privy Council as a result of on-going Fitness to Practise proceedings. The suspension was im- posed at a meeting of the Council on 13 November 2012 in accordance with the GDC’s procedures. The Privy Coun- cil has been notified of this de- cision and the suspension will remain until the Privy Council reaches a decision on whether or not to suspend or remove him under the General Dental Council (Constitution) Order 2009. The GDC will not be mak- ing any further comment at this stage. DT GDC suspend council member David Smith 2 News United Kingdom Edition 26 November - 03 December, 2012 F irst aiders are be- ing asked to identify defibrillators made by HeartSine Technologies Ltd after two potential faults were found. The faults could lead to depleted batteries and hence the device be- ing unavailable for use in the event of a person having a sudden cardiac arrest in a public place. Some faulty samaritan® PAD 300/300P defibrillators turn on or off when not in use, draining the battery power. In addition, defibrillators with early versions of the bat- tery management software may misinterpret a low bat- tery voltage which could turn the defibrillator off. The manufacturer, Heart- Sine Technologies Ltd, has is- sued a global correction notice for samaritan® PAD 300/300P defibrillators distributed from August 2004 to December 2010. Serial numbers for de- vices affected by these issues are below: • 0400000501 to 0700032917 inclusive • 08A00035000 to 10A00070753 inclusive • 10C00200000 to 10C00210318 inclusive HeartSine Technologies Ltd has distributed 1387 sa- maritan® PAD 300/300P de- vices with the serial numbers listed above in the UK. Heart- Sine are issuing affected cus- tomers with a reserve battery so that emergency care can be given to patients in the event of a low battery and instruc- tions on how the software can be upgraded. John Wilkinson, the MHRA’s Director of Medical Devices, said: “People who are responsible for these pub- lic access defibrillators that are in use at shopping cen- tres, railway stations, dental surgeries and other public places need to check the se- rial numbers and, if they have an affected device, follow the advice in the manufacturer’s field safety notice. “If the defibrillator is part of this corrective action, and you are unsure of what to do, you can contact the manufac- turer HeartSine on +44 02 8 9093 9400 or the MHRA Ad- verse Incident Centre on 020 7084 3080 or aic@mhra.gsi. gov.uk DT Check your faulty defibrillators warns MHRA A trader who was found to be selling illegal teeth whiten- ing products over the in- ternet was sentenced to prison at Chelmsford Crown Court. Mr Barrington Charles Arm- strong Thorpe was sentenced to eight months in prison followed by an additional eight months un- der license under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPUTRs) for misleading consumers as to the legality of a tooth whitening prod- uct; and 10 charges for breaches of the Cosmetic Product Regula- tions 2008 for supplying a tooth whitening product that contained or released excessive levels of hy- drogen peroxide. Essex County Councillor Kevin Bentley, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Trading Standards said, “This conviction is great news for consumers. The products that were being sold over the internet were not only illegal, but also dangerous. This convic- tion should act as a warning to other traders that may be trying to make money by selling these ille- gal goods. You will be caught and potentially get a prison sentence.” Mr Thorpe has been involved in the sale of a tooth whiten- ing product since at least 2005 through a company called Smile Brighter Marketing Limited. After the company was liquidated, Mr Thorpe continued to sell the prod- uct as a sole trader. He used sev- eral websites to sell this product including www.smile-brighter. co.uk; www.brightersmile.co.uk; and www.smilebrighternow.com. It is understood that Mr Thor- pe first became involved in selling this product on return from the USA after making an acquaint- ance with a supplier. In 2007 Mr Thorpe was informed by Bath Trading Standards that the tooth whitener he was selling was not compliant with the regula- tions. Nevertheless, Mr Thorpe continued to trade. In 2009 he was contacted by Essex Trading Standards, and an investigation into his business was undertaken. Mr Thorpe accepted a caution in 2010, acknowledging that the tooth whitener was illegal. Still, Mr Thorpe failed to cease trad- ing and Essex Trading Standards launched a prosecution. The jury found unanimously that Mr Thorpe was guilty of mis- leading consumers as to the le- gality of the product, and also for not providing information on the website that is required by law. Mr Thorpe pleaded guilty to the breaches of the Cosmetic Prod- ucts Regulations. These charges included the supply of a product containing excessive levels of Hy- drogen Peroxide and for deficient labelling of the tooth whitener. DT Teeth Whitening Salesman Jailed T he stress of Canter- bury’s earthquakes could be damaging people’s teeth, a Christchurch dentist says. New Zealand Dental As- sociation (NZDA) Canterbury president Donna Batchelor said the region’s dentists had noticed a growing number of people seeking treatment for teeth grinding, with stress be- lieved to be the cause of the problem. Some people were seeking treatment for fractured cusps, where the pointed chewing surface of the tooth was bro- ken off from grinding. “There’s significantly more patients coming through with that,” Batchelor said. “You can’t stop it if it’s something that’s coming from an internal thing.” Dentists were working more closely with counsellors and family doctors to support stressed patients, she said. The earthquakes had also seen dental work become less of a priority for some families. “There’s so many other things to worry about. A lot of people are possibly leaving things more until there’s an issue,” she said. For elderly people, getting across town to their dentist had become a challenge, and more dentists were now tak- ing the time to go to them, such as visiting rest homes to check on patients with den- tures. Batchelor said the region’s dentists had been stressed since the quakes, with many losing their premises in the February 2011 quake. Many were still work- ing out of temporary prem- ises or sharing space with other practitioners. Others were worried about losing the premises they had. A Rangiora dental clinic was forced to move at short notice in March because its build- ing was deemed to be quake- prone, she said. World-renowned dentistry expert Professor Ray Bertolotti will speak to a group of Can- terbury dentists today about alternative treatments. Bertolotti, a clinical pro- fessor of biomaterial science at the University of California, is donating all proceeds, more than $18,000, to the Canter- bury NZDA. Batchelor said the branch would use the money to fund the Great Dental Day Out, an annual continuing education event for Canterbury dentists. DT As reported in The Press Earthquakes responsible for teeth grinding