The two-week misconduct hearing which saw Desmond D'Mello removed from the register, and his dental nurse Caroline Surgey censured, cost more than £130,000. Figures released by the GDC show legal fees cost £108,066. In addition, £16,775 was spent on costs for the three panellists, including fees, expenses for travel, accommodation and subsistence, while the bill for a legal adviser ran to £13,350.
An unconfirmed report from Sky News says that Southern Dental boss, Dr Mazdak Eyrumlu has hired DC Advisory to oversee the third attempt to sell his company since 2014. The company is the third biggest provider of NHS dental services abd is valued by the owner at up to £100million.
According to Public Health England (PHE) children consume half the daily recommended sugar intake before the morning school bell rings. They eat more than 11g of sugar at breakfast time alone, almost 3 sugar cubes. The recommended daily maximum is no more than 5 cubes of sugar for 4- to 6-year-olds and no more than 6 cubes for 7- to 10-year-olds per day.
Over 1,000 dental professionals have signed a letter drafted by GDPUK member, Tony Kilcoyne, which appeared in the Daily Telegraph on January 2, 2017. It says that the NHS dental system in England has ‘catastrophically’ failed the public and calls for it to be removed out of ‘politicians’ incompetent hands’ completely.
Three people in dentistry received MBEs in 2017 New Years Honours: Prof Liz Kay Foundation Dean, Peninsula Dental School and Sarah Murray Hygienist Therapist and Senior Lecturer, Institute of Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London. Peter Heasman, Professor of Periodontology at Newcastle Dental School has been awarded the British Empire Medal in the New Year’s Honours list for services to research ethics.
It has been reported in the recent press that a number of dentists may be being pursued by HMRC as well as celebrities, financiers and those from the world of sport including Sir Alex Ferguson and Sven Goran Erikkson, for up to 20 times their original investment in a film industry tax avoidance scheme.
A Judicial Review brought by Dental Protection has found that the General Dental Council (GDC) was wrong to deny a dental practitioner the right of review after receiving an unpublished warning. Raj Rattan, Dental Director of Dental Protection said: “Our success in challenging the way in which the GDC interprets its own rules will be beneficial not just to our members, but to the wider profession.”
Investigators at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, report they have new evidence that a bacterium known to cause chronic inflammatory periodontal infections also triggers the inflammatory autoimmune response characteristic of chronic, joint-destroying rheumatoid arthritis. The new findings have important implications for prevention and treatment of this condition, say the researchers.
The BMA has issued guidance to inform GPs of their obligations to patients either requesting emergency dental treatment or asking for an NHS prescription for drugs recommended by private or NHS dentists. GPs and practice teams should make themselves aware of in hours and out-of-hours dental services available locally to manage urgent and emergency dental conditions, it says.