Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

A dentist based in Steve- nage in Hertfordshire has been struck off by the General Dental Council (GDC) following a public hearing into allegations of dishonesty. The allegations heard by the GDC’s Professional Con- duct Committee are in con- nection with incidents that oc- curred between January 2009 and October 2010 when Jona- than Anyetei (Registration No. 58109) was practising as sole principal at the Dental Sur- gery, 15 Town Square Cham- bers, Stevenage, Hertfordshire SG1 1BP. The Committee found, among other things, that Mr Anyetei had: • Failed to ensure that appro- priate cross infection control standards were adequately complied with – for example clean and dirty areas in the surgery were not clearly de- fined. • Failed to ensure that legal re- quirements relating to health and safety in the workplace were satisfied – for example The Fire Precautions (Work Place) Regulations 1997. • Failed to ensure that den- tal nurse staff working in the practice were adequately pro- tected against Hepatitis. In addition, on 30 July 2010, the Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust terminated Mr Any- etei’s General Dental Services Contract, under which he pro- vided NHS dental services, but he continued to hold himself out to patients or potential pa- tients as providing NHS dental services. The Committee found that his conduct in that respect was dishonest, unprofessional and not in his patients’ best in- terests. The Committee said: “Dishonesty is a seri- ous matter in any person. In the case of a dentist, dishones- ty is a betrayal of trust which sits at the heart of the dentist/ patient relationship. The pub- lic and profession have the right to trust a dentist’s integ- rity. The public also rightfully expect a dentist to maintain a clean surgery with appropri- ate measures in place for ster- ilization and to prevent cross infection. You placed staff and patients at totally unnec- essary risk of serious harm. The Committee noted the seriousness of the charges proved, and was in no doubt that this constituted miscon- duct.” In the circumstances the Committee determined that the only appropriate and pro- portionate sanction to main- tain the standards of the dental profession and public confidence in it, was that of erasure. Mr Anyetei’s registration was immediately suspended and unless he exercises his right of appeal, his name will be erased from the register. DT Stevenage dentist struck off T he Council of Euro- pean Dentists (CED) is currently conducting a one-year survey on possible negative side-effects of tooth whitening and bleaching prod- ucts. The committee has called upon dentists in the EU to re- port their own and their pa- tients’ observations. The survey includes tooth whitening and bleaching prod- ucts that are not freely avail- able on the market to consum- ers, that is, those that contain between 0.1 and 6 per cent hy- drogen peroxide. It runs until 31 October 2013. The initial results will be reported to the European Commission by the end of next year. Dentists can access the survey anonymously and vol- untarily online through the website of their national den- tal association. According to the CED, only a summary of all responses will be published once the survey has been com- pleted. The research is being car- ried out in accordance with an agreement between the CED and the European Commis- sion that was signed in March 2010 owing to the increasing availability of tooth whitening products on the EU market. The agreement was signed to ensure appropriate tooth whit- ening treatment through qual- ified dental professionals and to improve patient safety. About one year ago, the Council of the European Un- ion passed an amended direc- tive on tooth whitening prod- ucts, which resolved that tooth whitening or bleaching prod- ucts containing more than 0.1 per cent and up to 6 per cent hydrogen peroxide will only be sold to dentists. Products with concentrations of up to 0.1 per cent continue to be freely available on the market. The CED is a non-profit or- ganisation, which represents over 340,000 dentists across Europe. It is aimed at the pro- motion of high standards of oral health care and effective patient-safety-centred profes- sional practice in Europe. DT Effects of tooth whitening under inspection by EU T he General Dental Council (GDC) has put new guidance in place for anyone employing trainee dental nurses or dental tech- nicians. The previous guidance in this area was put in place during the transitional period for dental care professionals – meaning they could register with the GDC without having a formal qualification. This ran from 31 July 2006 to 30 August 2008. Since then what was meant by the term “in-training” has been reviewed and new guid- ance has now been agreed. The guidance contains a number of key points, includ- ing what defines a student/ trainee dental nurse or dental technician: They are either: 1. Employed and enrolled or waiting to start on a recog- nised programme that will lead to GDC registration; or 2. Studying on a recognised programme that leads directly to GDC registration. The full guidance docu- ment can be found on the GDC website: www.gdc-uk. org/dentalprofessionals/edu- cation/pages/dcpsintraining. aspx DT GDC sets out new guidance for employers 4 News United Kingdom Edition 26 November - 03 December, 2012 A team of vets at a Scottish wildlife park have given a polar bear root canal treatment. The vets were called in after the usually-playful Arktos was feeling subdued, leading staff at the park to discover a prob- lem with his upper left canine tooth. Arktos, who weighs 75 stones, was sedated and placed on an operating table made up of scaffolding poles and thick planks. His tooth had become damaged at the tip and rotted through, causing the polar bear to need root canal treatment. After three hours, the treat- ment was successfully com- pleted. Douglas Richardson, animal collection manager at the park, said the vets and park staff were pleased with how the op- eration went. He said: “Arktos really is a lucky bear and we were de- lighted to be able to save his tooth. “In the wild the infection would have tracked through his system, causing him a great deal of pain and discomfort and, over the longer term, it could eventually kill him.” DT Polar bear enters dentist’s chair