Dentists malpractice claims
New information recently released by the General Dental Council suggests that dentists are increasingly concerned more about their profit margins than the health and wellbeing of their patients.
Clearly, dentists are under a lot of stress in their work, constantly having to carry out very exacting operations on patients who are often, unfortunately, very demanding, or uncooperative. It is true that as medical technology improves, the art of dentistry improves with it, but these innovations are typically prohibitively expensive for the majority of dental patients. At the same time, however, many patients, frustrated with the increasingly overworked and underfunded NHS, are seeking treatment from private dental surgeries as an alternative. However, these private dentists are increasingly seen as mercenary professionals, who have more interest in extracting money from their patients than performing extractions.
In an effort to fight this sort of professional attitude, which is not conducive to effective dental treatment, the 2006 Dental Contract was brought into effect, putting into place guidelines as to how much dentists ought to be charging their patients for procedures. This has, however, brought about more complex issues regarding pricing – a complex procedure like a root canal, for instance, was in the same price bracket as the relatively simple filling. While on the NHS, a dentist can expect to be paid about £75 for a root canal, not significantly more than they would be paid for a filling, a private dentist is able to charge up to £850 for the exact same procedure. Because of this, everybody ultimately loses out: NHS dentists, worryingly, are increasingly unable to provide the proper care in a cost-effective manner, leading to a preference for extracting, rather than protecting, teeth, as there is nothing incentivising these dentists to provide the proper care – which would require long and costly measures, with no additional pay to show for it. The British Dental Journal’s figures from 2006 onwards clearly show an increase in the how many extractions are being performed, accompanied by a decrease in how many tooth-saving procedures are being carried out.
This is accompanied by an increasing concern that dentists are insufficiently incentivised to spend the proper amount of time on procedures – the time spent on a root canal, for instance, was shown to vary from a bare minimum of 10 minutes, all the way up to a maximum of 180 minutes. The head of the Dental Sciences School at Newcastle University, commented: “Some dentists might see it as their professional duty. Others might see it as a loss leader. Some might think it’s only worth their while if they take 20 minutes over it.”
As a result of these trends, there has also been an increase in the number of patients who seek no win, no fee compensation claims against dentists who they feel have demonstrated medical negligence. The number of such cases has doubled in the last year alone. As unsustainable practices within the NHS lead to patients being given substandard dental care, this number is expected to continue to rise. If you have suffered from being given improper treatment by your dentist, whether on the NHS or privately, it is important that you are able to claim the compensation to which you are entitled; no patient deserves negligent care.
Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article7141227.ece
Updated on 11/22/2010