A dentist accused of conning laboratories out of t

A dentist accused of conning laboratories out of thousands of pounds today claimed he refused to pay bills when he found crowns he had fitted were ‘fool’s gold.

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Robert Hossack said he was horrified to discover the caps he had used contained just 28 per cent of the precious metal when he had specified a minimum purity of 60 per cent.

Fearing he would have to replace every gold crown he had fitted over three years, Hossack said he simply refused to pay the lab’s pnds stlg 1,800 bill

The dentist said allegations he withheld thousands of pounds from three other labs were due to misunderstandings or poor workmanship by technicians.

Hossack told the General Dental Council he refused to pay pnd stlg 1,500 to the East Essex Dental Lab in Clacton-on-Sea because the work was unsatisfactory.

The case ended up in the Small Claims Court and Hossack said he took a box of dentures and crowns to prove his case.

But hee made an out of court settlement with the lab and said he did pay.

Answering a suggestion by barrister Mr Philip Gaisford that he refused to hand over the money, Hossack replied: ‘That is not true.

I paid that sum and all the money which was owed.

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Hossack admitted failing to pay a pnds stlg 1,106 bill from the Adept Dental Lab of Bury St Edmonds, Suffolk, because of what he claimed was shoddy workmanship.

He said some of their gold crowns began to tarnish and the dispute also ended up in court.

‘Eventually we both had to instruct solicitors which I felt was unnecessary,’ Hossack said.

‘He withdrew his claim and I withdrew mine so there was no payment to be made,’ added the dentist, who insisted he had not refused to pay.

Hossack then recalled the row over the gold content of crowns which led to him refusing to settle pnds stlg 1,800 outstanding with the Colchester Dental Laboratory.

He said he ordered the crowns on the condition they were 60 per cent pure gold, but after a few months he became suspicious and had them analysed.

‘The three crowns were sent off for analysis and it was found they only had 26 to 28 per cent gold,’ said Hossack.

‘I tried to bring it to the lab’s attention that there was a problem but I think they then took up another issue and started to go down a different path.

They took litigation.

‘I then made a counter claim because we had a three year relationship and I thought after the test results I may have to replace all the crowns that had been produced over that three years.

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Hossack said when he went to court with a box of crowns he was not allowed to call his expert witness and was forced to pay the money when judgement was made against him.

Referring to the pnds stllg 16,335 owed to Cambridge Dental Studio, Hossack claimed the money was still outstanding because of a combination of poor service and bad administration.

He said there was a delay in payment because he was given ‘large wads’ of invoices every few months instead of one every four weeks.

Hossack added some of the work was not paid for because it arrived five days late.

The dentist, who has surgeries at Witham, Essex and Stoke by Claire, Sudbury, Suffolk, also said his practice had been damaged by two burglaries in which patient records were destroyed.

Hossack, of Layer Cottage, the Street, Stoke by Clare, Sudbury, denies serious professional misconduct.

The hearing continues.

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