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Case ref:201508025
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Date:October 2016
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Body:A Dentist in the Tayside NHS Board area
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Sector:Health
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Outcome:Not upheld, recommendations
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Subject:clinical treatment / diagnosis
Summary
Mr C complained that the dentist carrying out work on his teeth over a number of appointments acted unreasonably by treating what Mr C considered to be a healthy tooth.
We took independent advice from a dental surgeon. They noted that no unnecessary work had been carried out on Mr C's teeth and that his dental records confirmed that treatment had been carried out on teeth needing treatment.
Mr C does not speak English as a first language and during the course of our investigation we found that an interpreter was not present at every appointment. Mr C may not have understood fully the treatment that was being carried out. We therefore made a recommendation to address this.
Recommendations
We recommended that the dentist:
- take steps to ensure that an interpreter is present for appointments where a patient's understanding of English is not adequate to ensure informed consent for treatment is obtained.