Decision Report 201703370

Summary

Mr C raised a complaint about the care and treatment he had received from his dentist when he had two teeth removed and two new teeth added to his existing denture. Mr C later found his denture to be too loose fitting and returned to his dentist. Mr C had clips fitted to make his denture more secure, however, he still felt that it was too loose and was advised by his dentist that a new denture was the only other option. Mr C was unhappy with his treatment and brought his complaint to us.

We took independent advice from a dentist. We found that the dental treatment Mr C received was reasonable and in accordance with usual practice. However, we found issues with patient communication and record-keeping. Mr C was not given a full explanation of his treatment at the outset or advised of the all the possible options and outcomes. We also found that dental records did not mention the advice that the dentist had given to Mr C. On balance, we found Mr C's treatment to be unreasonable and upheld his complaint.

Recommendations

What we asked the organisation to do in this case:

• Apologise to Mr C for not outlining all his options to him at the start of treatment. The apology should meet the standards set out in the SPSO guidelines on apology available at https://www.spso.org.uk/leaflets-and-guidance.
• Refund Mr C the money he paid for the clips to be fitted.

We have asked the organisation to provide us with evidence that they have implemented the recommendations we have made on this case by the deadline we set.