Speaking about this, Chris Dean, managing director at Dental Law Partnership (DLP) said: “These dentists deprive patients of the protection of a remedy in law when dental treatment goes wrong. Frequently good solid legal claims involving these risk-creating dentists fail simply because of the lack of liability cover or the dentists’ lack of co-operation with the legal process.”

The DLP also says that many dentists do not have sufficient public liability cover, which makes it hard for patients to get proper redress for their concerns. Moreover, it is also putting dentists themselves in a difficult position.

Mr. Dean added: “As the Dental Council had not analysed its own data, we have done the analysis and discovered that in 2011, approximately a quarter of all concluded dentist professional conduct hearings involved dentists who put dental patients at risk in that they either did not have liability cover or completely failed to co-operate with the formal proceedings.”

Earlier this year the DLP wrote to the GDC. In the letter, the law firm said the GDC didn’t appear to know what was going on. A quote from the letter said: “The GDC do not categorise hearing determinations by either type of complaint or which standards have been breached. There are no records to search therefore which accurately provide this information.

For the first four months of 2012, the figures show that 55% of all concluded dentist conduct hearings involved dentists who created risk for their dental patients by not having liability cover or not co-operating with the formal processes.”

He concluded: “The rise in the number of dentists who put their patients at risk is bringing the dental profession into disrepute. How can the GDC be regarded as an authoritative voice in the monitoring and determination of the quality of dental care in the UK? It is failing in its primary function – that of protecting dental patients.”

With rapid changes taking place as a result of the passing of the Health & Social Care Bill, dentistry is not immune. Consequently, the DLP feels that the dental profession and all other interested parties including politicians and patient groups should start working together to improve awareness of patients and dentists rights. They have called this campaign Bridge the Gap.

Dai Woodsford and his wife Victoria, both dentists, recently took part in RelayGB. The idea was to create record for non-stop marathon running, and the charity they ran for was Brain Tumour UK.

Speaking with local reporters Victoria said: “Wet and bedraggled I limped into Newport, a quick handover to Dai (with several mates braving the elements to cheer me in and him out) and he was off.  I couldn’t believe the torrential rain as he ran, undaunted, up the mountains out of Cardiff to his finish line.”

Relay races including marathon relays involve handing over a baton to the next person on route. But this type of event is normally part of an athletics sporting event, so it was a great achievement for Team Greenfield (the name they go by) that they managed to complete the challenge.

What’s more this particular challenge is just one of a number of sporting events that the couple have signed up for. After completing her own part in the relay, Victoria Woodsford has now flown out to Nepal to try her hand at a marathon run in the foothills of the Himalayas.

A brain tumour charity will benefit from the efforts of the two dentists, as brain tumour research is often neglected in terms of funding, so the couple felt it was something they wanted to help.

Dai Woodsford said: “We are delighted to be able to help raise awareness for this super charity in addition to being part of such an exciting event.”

The caravan is also part of the dental college’s continuing education policy, which gives practitioners 350 hours of CPD or Continual Professional Development.

Speaking with local reporters, the Dean of the college, Dr. John Reinhardt said: “It’s not a chore to be out doing the dental caravan, it’s a joy, we really enjoy it.”

One of the themes of this year’s road show is demonstrating that drinking so called energy drinks among other similar foodstuffs are as dangerous as the traditional sugary fruit juices regularly bought by young people.

Dr. Paul Hansen, Director of the Prosthodontics Section at the College of Dentistry added: “They say that 62% of teenagers today drink sport drinks or energy drinks and we don’t know sometimes what the effect that those drinks are going to have on their teeth.”

Dentistry nowadays is so advanced that despite problems associated with sugar and tooth decay, almost anything is possible to restore ailing teeth and gums.

Another aspect of the travelling caravan is that dentists get a chance to test their medical skills by helping any emergencies that might crop up. “That could be anything from just fainting in the chair all the way to having a heart attack or stroke,” says Dr. Lindsay Mundil, associate professor at the College of Dentistry and dental hygienist.

Dr. Mundil added:  “It’s good to kind of just keep updated with it and have reviews every now and then just to keep yourself fresh on how to handle those situations since we don’t typically deal with them.”

The idea of travelling dental road shows has taken hold in the UK as well. Both the Scottish Health Board and the Welsh Assembly are both using buses etc., to travel around local areas including schools to try to educate the local population, in particular children of the need to look after their teeth.

What’s more the schemes appear to be having some success.

Interestingly though, while US dentists just offer this service for one day each year, Will Murphy is offering it for 4 consecutive Fridays from the 22^nd June onwards.

Speaking with local reporters, a practice spokesperson said: “It doesn’t matter if you aren’t a patient…[the practice can] arrange an appointment, the team will carry out an oral health check-up free of charge.”

The dental profession for a while now has been pushing for people to make sure they get their teeth and gums checked regularly. However, because of the current economic climate a growing number of families are starting to put oral health further down their list of priorities. The profession believes this is not just false economy but can also put a person’s long-term health at risk.

Not just that, although NHS dentistry is growing, many dentists now work in private practices, so they too are starting to feel the pinch of austerity. By offering free check-ups it helps both the dentist and patient at the same time.

The Government also recently realised the need for regular check-ups as they gave Derbyshire citizens the chance to get a free appointments with a £17 voucher. This was apparently a resounding success and so could hopefully be rolled out to other parts of the country.

The scheme, which gives people a voucher worth £17, can be used at any NHS dental practice for a checkup. The only criterion was that patients must not have seen a dentist for at least 2 years.

The scheme, which was run throughout March this year, saw a sharp rise in visitors to dental practices; 4,000 new patients in fact. The £17 voucher covers the cost of the basic dental checkup. Any further treatment would be charged at the normal NHS rates.

Speaking with reporters, one dentist who participated in the voucher scheme, Mak Sidhu said: “A lot of patients had not been for 10 or 20 years. The worst case was someone who had left it so long, more than 20 years that she had very severe gum disease and her teeth were so loose that she had to have several extracted and a denture made. She had been suffering in silence until her family coaxed her along to see me.”

“People may have had a bad experience when they were a child and feel very anxious but the days of the old-fashioned dentist have gone. Our approach now is to prevent problems rather than spend all our time filling and drilling.”

Welcoming the news of the success of the scheme in Derbyshire, Keith Mann, head of primary care for NHS Derbyshire said: We’re delighted that this scheme has been a resounding success.

“Not only does this mean that thousands of people who haven’t seen a dentist in years are now back on track with their dental treatment, which may save them unnecessary pain and money in the long run, but it also means thousands have been given necessary follow-up treatment too.”

A follow up questionnaire was also used, which asked patients why they hadn’t seen a dentist previously. The findings were interesting. For instance, 35% of respondents wrongly believed their dentist had a full patient list.

Responding to the findings of the survey, Mr. Mann added: “A lot of misconceptions about NHS dental access still remain, which is surprising considering the high level of investment.”

Mr. Mann added: “These results have made us realise that more work needs to be done.”

Thirty two practices in Derbyshire were involved.

This shocking news was recently revealed when one legal eagle said that there appears to be an increased propensity for patients to use their smartphones to record a conversation with their practitioner.

Rachael Bell, a dental adviser for the legal organisation MDDUS told reporters: “A dentist might think that a patient would require their permission to record a consultation and that any recording made covertly was illegal.’

‘However, this is not the case. When a patient seeks a consultation with a dentist, the information being processed is almost exclusively relating to the patient. Under the Data Protection Act, that data is therefore personal to the patient. By recording it, that patient is merely viewed as processing their own data.’

MDDUS advises dentists to ensure they keep proper physical documentation in case a patient decides to sue for any treatment that goes wrong. But Rachel warns that information generated relating to a patient is also protected under the Data protection Act. This gives patients jurisdiction but not dentists.

Rachel added: “In essence, the patient can do what they wish with it. Even if obtained covertly, courts may view the recording, if relevant to the case, as admissible. Dentists are warned that the accuracy of their records could be challenged if they do not match the recording of any consultation.

“Any covert recording would seem inherently intrusive and a breach of trust in a patient-dentist relationship. You would expect sympathy for a dentist whose privacy had been invaded. However, the law views the matter differently.”

She goes on to say that if a dentists wishes to record anything – audio or visual about their patient they must get written consent before doing so. But this requirement isn’t needed the other way round.

Rachel Bell concluded: “…we would all do well to foster open and honest discussions with our patients in order to avoid them feeling it necessary to go undercover.”

With an increase in the potential for patients to litigate, it is probably wise for dentists and those working in dental practices to heed Rachel’s advice.

The charge laid against him not only damaged his reputation but also forced his insurance company to pay out £50,000 to a former patient who accused him of negligence. The patient apparently had a non-mainstream treatment for a particular facial bone disorder, but it went wrong. This in turn led to the dentist being effectively sued.

Luckily for him he wasn’t struck of, but banned from practising for a few years.

The patient who accepted an out of court settlement told reporters: “It has taken me five years to get some justice for what this man has done at his practice.”

Other patients, however, have been loyal and understanding it seems and still intend to visit the new practice, now that it is up and running. He has apologised for his behaviour by writing to patients and posting comments on Facebook and Twitter. He also told reporters: “I do apologise to my patients for the inconvenience caused and I am writing to all of them to inform them by mail. I have also posted updates on Facebook and Twitter.

Patients have been massively understanding.”

While no one excuses the behaviour of any dentist who causes problems for patients, in reality like everything else in life, dental operations don’t always go to plan. Mistakes are made, and they clearly did in this case. However being professional means learning from those mistakes and undergoing further training if required.

It also has to be said that mistakes like that suffered by the patient are a rarity, but according to the dentist British people are becoming more litigious, which now puts extra pressure on dentists and dental practices.

This, however, must in the end be a good thing, particularly since dental practices must develop a more business like approach.

James Goolnick is considered one of the foremost influential and innovative dentists and speakers, so the meeting on the 6^th July should be very interesting.

Continual Professional Development or CPD is fast becoming very important across a variety of careers. Dentistry and medicine is no different. In fact it could be argued that CPD is vital, as the technological changes taking place are so rapid nowadays it can be easy to fall behind in terms of knowledge and experience.

Mr. Goolnik has been booked to speak about the challenges that face all dentists and how he as a dentist confronts these challenges, particularly since the country is now in the grip of a recession.

Another speaker at the conference is Dr. Robert Muirhead who will discuss the role of technology. Maintaining this theme there will also be a talk about how computer software can help dentists’ practices with particular emphasis on monitoring and analysing performance plus best business practice.

One other seminar will introduce the controversial idea of removing non-clinical work from dentists. The speaker Laura Horton believes that 90% of the work carried out by dentists is in fact non-clinical. As such, she believes much, if not all of this work could be delegated to others such as dental hygienists.

Doing this Laura feels that it will improve customer service.

Other presentations will focus on more medical themes including infection control, something that can often be overlooked.

It is interesting to note that ‘green’ dentistry does not appear to feature. Environmental issues including the continual use of mercury amalgam is a hot topic in the USA and Europe, but appears to have taken a back seat in the UK.

This is the second time that the new charitable scheme has been in operation in Bradford, so it is hoped that many more people than last year will decide to take up the offer of free oral care- especially since it is only available for one day.

And if the results of last year are anything to go by then it is likely to be even more successful. At the same event in 2011 patients were lining the street from 4 am in the morning.

DFTH is a USA based organisation operating out of Florida. The founder Dr.Vincent Monticciolo realised the need for such a service when he found out that a large percentage of people were unable to afford either dental fees or to pay for insurance cover. Since its foundation, the charity has been working with many dentists throughout the United States, and more recently in Canada.

Today it provides around $3 million worth of treatment.

Speaking with local reporters, the Canadian dentist involved with the DFTH event, Dr. Jesse Chai said: “What better way at giving back then doing what we are good at. By providing excellent dental care we can help to improve people’s lives and health.”

Dentistry From The Heart is one of a number of charities that helps poorer and underserved citizens across North America. The belief is that by helping them for free it not only prevents possible further medical problems but it also gives dentists involved the chance to better educate patients, especially children on how best to look after their teeth.

Moreover, with economic problems besetting many families across the Atlantic as well as in Britain, dentistry can often be relegated to the bottom a person’s or family’s needs. In reality it should be at the top.

While acknowledging a problem, the Government has blamed the previous Labour administration in allowing this to happen as a consequence of changes made to the NHS Contract in 2006.

The fraudulent allegations are thought to occur because dentists no longer claim for individual treatments but claim for all treatments in one go. This is believed to create a possibility of dual accounting – claiming twice for the same treatment, which may be overlooked.

Other suggestions include claiming for ‘ghost patients.’ that is, patients that don’t exist.

Speaking with the Daily Mail, Health minister Lord Howe said: “Taxpayers will rightly be appalled at the £70million price tag they are paying for Labour’s botched stewardship of NHS dentistry. This is money that should be spent on patients.”

He added: “It is a great shame that a minority of dentists have been able to game a complex and confusing contract. When our new dental contract is introduced across the country, it will tackle this issue by streamlining and simplifying how NHS dentistry is paid for. Until then, we will not tolerate any kind of fraud we uncover.”

For its part the Labour Party denies that changes to dentist contracts were to blame for this serious problem. Shadow health minister Jamie Reed said: “Fraud is the fault of the fraudster, not the contract. The Tories are shamelessly playing politics by trying to blame the rules instead of the people who break them.”

Jamie Reed continued: “The last Labour government introduced new contracts to improve efficiency and help more patients find an NHS dentist. It is time for the General Dental Council and the Department of Health to get a grip on the small number of rogue claimants.”

When the last government introduced changes to dental contracts as many as 2,000 dentists left the NHS and went into private practice. However, since then NHS dentistry has been steadily improving. It is therefore sad that a handful of individuals or dental practices should try to defraud the system as it tars all dentists with the same brush; something that isn’t true.