Dentist cleared of dirty practice
A dentist accused of using dirty tools on patients has been cleared.
The man, referred to as Dr M, faced allegations that he didn’t sterilise implements between patients, and didn’t try to minimise the risk of cross contamination when treating patients who had Hepatitis B or C.
The changing of gloves was the subject of another complaint, and others focussed on the dentist’s behaviour during an examination and a tooth extraction.
But a charge of professional misconduct was dismissed by the New Zealand Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal.
It found the dentist’s evidence rung true and the tribunal wasn’t convinced by witness accounts.
Dr M, who can’t be named, had a contract to treat prisoners at a Corrections facility near his practices.
But several Corrections officers who took prisoners to him questioned his hygiene.
Three officers gave evidence at a May 2016 tribunal hearing - alleging behaviour that included using the same instruments on several patients without sterilisation in between, or after only wiping them with a paper hand towel.
It was also claimed that the dentist and his assistant didn’t change their gloves after touching other items around the surgery.
But evidence from two of the officers had inconsistencies, the tribunal found, and they hadn’t made a written complaint to the Corrections Facility or other officers.
‘‘Neither, it seems, refused to take further prisoners in to the surgery for treatment despite the lack of hygiene standards that they mentioned.’’
Dr M couldn’t remember the specific incidents the charges related to, but explained his routine hygiene practice, the tribunal said.
‘‘There was not, therefore, he said, anything out of the ordinary with respect to any of those occasions which caused him to remember them specifically.’’
The tribunal found Dr M’s evidence rung true.
Two other patients complained about dealings with Dr M but the tribunal found the evidence ‘‘extreme and emotional’’ in both cases.
Dr M denied those things had ever happened.
The Dental Council of New Zealand’s Professional Conduct Committee had not proved the charge of professional misconduct, the tribunal found.