Is it safe?
Posted on 01/13/2007 6:30:44 AM PST by Loyalist
A dentist who pulled out an elderly woman’s teeth without anaesthetic “to teach her a lesson” has been struck off.
David Quelch left the retired nurse, who was 87, with blood pouring from her mouth from two extractions after she had complained to her doctor about the quality of previous treatment by the dentist.
After a three-day hearing the General Dental Council found Mr Quelch, 54, guilty of serious professional misconduct and ordered his name to be removed from the register.
The woman, referred to as Patient A, gave her evidence via a video link. She said: “Mr Quelch told me to sit in the chair and raised my feet above my head. I told him I had pain and he told me he was going to extract my teeth. I objected. I didn’t think it was necessary. He ignored my remarks and pulled out the tooth. I was bleeding profusely.
“He lowered my head and pushed my chest and proceeded to extract the other tooth against my will. I was very upset and alarmed.”
She said that she asked to spit blood into a bowl at the side of the dental chair but Mr Quelch had refused and said: “No, don’t spit in the bowl, you might have Aids.”
She added: “I said I didn’t want my tooth removed — he pushed me back, pushing me hard across my chest and extracted the second tooth. All I wanted was a filling.”
A nurse was pushing down on her head throughout the procedure, she said.
The patient had attended Mr Quelch’s practice in Bexhill, East Sussex, for a filling in September 2001 and said that she found his attitude casual and unprofessional. During a second visit three months later she informed him that she had complained to a doctor about the dental treatment that she had received. It was then that he was said to have removed the teeth against her will and shouted: “That’ll teach you not to complain to the doctor.”
She told the hearing: “I was very shocked and frightened.” She said that Mr Quelch had pricked her gum with a needle but had not administered any anaesthetic before the extractions. She said that she was bedridden for three days after the treatment.
The panel concluded that, although Mr Quelch had failed to explain the risks or alternative treatment, the patient had not told him that he should not extract the second tooth.
Jason Leitch, the chairman of the panel, said: “The committee is concerned that, in view of his unacceptable lack of insight and complacency, he presents a serious risk to patients.”
Mr Quelch, who qualified in 1976, declined to attend the hearing and was not available for comment later.
Is it safe?
Thanks to the Lord they used my nom-de-plume!
And for those of you wondering: yes, I had fun.
You'll be a dentist.
You have a talent for causing things pain!
Son, be a dentist.
People will pay you to be inhumane!
You're temperment's wrong for the priesthood,
And teaching would suit you still less.
Son, be a dentist.
You'll be a success.
"Here he is folks, the leader of the plaque."
"Watch him suck up that gas. Oh My God!"
"He's a dentist and he'll never ever be any good."
"Who wants their teeth done by the Marqui DeSade?"
"Oh, that hurts! Wait! I'm not numb!"
"Eh, Shut Up! Open Wide! Here I Come!"
I am your dentist.
And I enjoy the career that I picked.
I'm your dentist.
And I get off on the pain I inflict!
I thrill when I drill a bicuspid.
It's swell, though then tell me I'm mal-adjusted.
And though it may cause my patients distress.
Somewhere...Somewhere in heaven above me...
I know...I know that my momma's proud of me.
"Oh, Momma..."
'Cause I'm a dentist...
And a success!
"Say ahh..."
"Say AHhhh..."
"Say AAARRRHHHH!!!"
"Now Spit!"
I was hoping someone would understand the reference.
I love that scene with Bill Murray.
Now wait a minute. She didn't like the first time so much that she complained to a doctor, yet went back for a second time?
Socialized medicine? Is this what the swimmer has in store for us??
Maybe she's into Dental-Play? You know, where the Dentist is the sadist and she's masochistic...
Yeah at 87 she may not have too many marbles left but when you get to her age you'll be lucky to have half the amount she does.
i took my son to a new dentist, just moved to the area,
for fillings. my son was very uncomfortable and even
said it hurt. the dentist told him it didn't hurt. we left
immediately. no one tells my kid what does and does
not hurt them. definately not the dentist for us. so we
found a much better dentist.
i can't imagine responding any differently at 87, but,
if for some reason i am not able to make those choices,
i know i have a wonderful husband and 3 teriffic kids
who will be there for me. :)
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