Dentist 'drilled healthy tooth to punish patient' -

Daily Telegraph - UK ^ | July 18, 2003 | Graham Tibbetts

[UnklGene]

Dentist 'drilled healthy tooth to punish patient' By Graham Tibbetts (Filed: 18/07/2003)

A dentist drilled away almost half of a healthy tooth to punish a patient who owed him money, a disciplinary hearing was told yesterday.

Neville Kan had not been paid £60 following the woman's previous visit to his surgery in Chiswick, west London, five years earlier.

The General Dental Council in London heard that the patient, referred to as Mrs B, returned to the practice for treatment in January last year after losing a filling during a trip to Switzerland.

Kan advised her that she also needed a small filling on the adjacent eye tooth. But Mrs B said she was "horrified" to discover that he had bored away almost half of the eye tooth.

"I thought for a moment that my heart was going to stop," she said. "I said 'What have you done?"

Mrs B, who lives in Putney, added: "All the charm and niceness had gone and he was deliberately hurting me.

"He said, 'Nothing lasts forever, I am not going to last forever . . . nothing in life is free. You owe me money'."

Although her instinct was to flee, she said she was unable to do so because her gold crown was now drilled down to the root. "I couldn't run away from this man who was hurting me," she said.

After 90 minutes in the chair Kan asked her for £60 but had still not touched the tooth causing the original complaint. Mrs B said the filling he used to plug the gaping hole was too big, causing her great pain.

Kan then suggested she make another appointment, during which he again demanded money. Mrs B told the hearing how the pain in her mouth ruined a Pavarotti concert at the Royal Opera House and prevented her from sleeping properly.

"I felt really degraded, dirty. It was almost like he had raped me," she said. "It was absolutely terrible. There were times I wanted to commit suicide."

Kan, who qualified in New Zealand 44 years ago, denies serious professional misconduct. The hearing continues.

[BCrago66]

What was that movie where Steve Martin played a sadistic dentist?

[Support Free Republic]

BE A PART OF THE WINNING TEAM! Donate to Free Republic!

[LaraCroft]

Little Shop of Horrors. A classic.

[hole_n_one]

"Is it safe yet?"

[Polonius]

The musical remake of "Little Shop of Horrors."

[bigfootbob]

"...to punish a patient who owed him money,...Neville Kan had not been paid £60 following the woman's previous visit to his surgery in Chiswick, west London, five years earlier."

How can this be? I thought the "enlightened" British has cradle to grave health care.

[Judith Anne]

With apologies to all the decent, competent, and wonderful dentists I have known in my life, from "Little Shop of Horrors" lyrics:

You'll be a dentist

You have a talent for causing things pain

Son, be a dentist

People will pay you to be inhumane

Your temperament's wrong for the priesthood

And teaching would suit you still less

Son, be a dentist

You'll be a success

Steve Martin as Elvis on a Harley did that song so well...;-D

[Larry Lucido]

Ping, I mean, bzzzzzzzz.

[Larry Lucido]

Time to drag this out again, I guess.

[Just another Joe]

If it was me, That dentist would be missing a few teeth also.

[gcruse]

People who don't pay their bills don't get much sympathy here.

[BOBWADE]

Sounds like she should have paid her bills.

[The Brush]

Mrs B told the hearing how the pain in her mouth ruined a Pavarotti concert at the Royal Opera House

Sounds like she had money to afford things that were important to her but not enough to cover a dentist bill. No I don't support what the dentist did but he should have refused to treat her unless she paid the outstanding bill rather than to go to illegal extremes.

[RGSpincich]

Talk about a slap on the wrist.


Dentist is cleared of 'revenge drilling'
By Graham Tibbetts
(Filed: 19/07/2003)


A dentist accused of drilling a patient's tooth in revenge for an unpaid bill was cleared of using intimidating behaviour at a disciplinary hearing yesterday.

Neville Kan was alleged to have ground away almost half of a woman's canine tooth when she came to him with a problem in a different tooth.

The patient, identified as Mrs B, had earlier told the General Dental Council's hearing that she returned to Kan's practice in Chiswick, west London, after a five-year absence when a filling fell out.

She claimed that Kan, who was owed £35 for previous treatment, drilled another tooth and told her: "Nothing lasts forever, I am not going to last forever. . . nothing in life is free. You owe me money."

The GDC's professional conduct committee acquitted him of making intimidating and inappropriate remarks but found him guilty of serious professional misconduct for failing to explain his treatment and costs in advance, failing to obtain consent for his proposals and failing to respond to the patient's subsequent complaints.

He was also found guilty of using an "outmoded procedure" by not having an assistant on hand and not wearing gloves.

Kersasp Fanibunda, the chairman of the council's professional conduct committee, said no further action would be taken as Kan had taken steps to remedy his errors.

18 July 2003: Dentist 'drilled healthy tooth to punish patient'
27 March 2003: Private dentistry 'not working well for consumers'

External links

General Dental Council

[winner3000]

That's it? I can't believe he got away with it. What he did is quite serious and could be called terrorism. A doctor is quite powerful as there is significant asymetry of information in the industry. There is a lot of room for doctors to perform unnecessary procedures and charge the person when the patient thinks that insurance will pay for the procedure. To violate that trust is quite scary.

[roadcat]

Good thing he's not an eye doctor.

[carlo3b]

WAIT A MINUTE! This is BS, I'm not buying her story for a minute..What does she take us for...she must be kidding, how could a toothache ruin a Pavarotti concert at the Royal Opera House?..;)

[RGSpincich]

Kersasp Fanibunda, the chairman of the council's professional conduct committee, said no further action would be taken as Kan had taken steps to remedy his errors.

UK justice. Wonder how their malpractice laws are set up?

[EGPWS]

Good thing he's not an eye doctor.

...Or a brain surgeon.