A sloppy dentist operated on patients using bloods

A sloppy dentist operated on patients using bloodstained, rusty and bent instruments in a ‘filthy’ surgery, an inquiry heard today (MON).

Nigel William Adam often did not wear gloves during his examinations despite having dirty fingernails and kept his tools in grimy racks, it is claimed.

The telephone also had blood spattered on the handle and the tooth polish brushes had been so over-used the bristles had been worn down almost to the handle.

Adam’s single-handed practice in Church Street, Rugby, Warwickshire, was shut down after an investigation on July 20 this year.

Inspector Ian MacIntyre, consultant in public health, told the General Dental Council that Adam was ‘a danger to the public and a danger to himself.

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He added: ‘These instruments wouldn’t be something I would want him to put in my mouth.

To any patient the mirrors would have been quite appalling.

‘There was no chrome at all on the handles and there were cement flecks on the mirror surfaces.

To my eye they weren’t clean.

‘The polishing brushes had been used so many times that the bristles were no more than two millimetres long, when they should be four or five.

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This first visit on July 11 also revealed Adam kept ‘bent’ root canal instruments in a box that ‘hadn’t been seen since the 1960s.

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Mr MacIntyre added: ‘The instruments clearly could not have been sterilised.

‘It was obvious that the surgical instruments all had blood all on them.

I could actually see large blood marks on them.

‘The storage tray itself was filthy as I could run my finger across it and see the trail in the dirt.

The whole thing was just unbelievable.

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Adam allegedly told the inspector it was impossible to avoid getting blood on his paperwork and said he could not ‘autoclave’ some instruments because they would explode or melt.

He also claimed he only wore gloves when bleeding was involved because it made his hands ‘sweaty’ and ‘compromised his technique.

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Counsel for the GDC, Sarah Vaughan-Jones, asked: ‘Did you see his hands?’

Mr MacIntyre said: ‘They were dirty.

His fingernails were filthy.

‘What I saw was enough to cause me considerable concern so I advised him at length on what he needed to do.

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The inspector recommended he get an ultrasound cleaner and a new autoclave to clean his instruments properly instead of using cold disinfectant.

But the dentist made no attempt to improve and appeared to ‘ridicule’ his suggestions at using clingfilm on the light switch to prevent cross infection, the committee heard.

Mr MacIntyre added: ‘I was appalled.

The cling film on the light handle was almost like a toffee apple, there was so much of it.

‘The phone was actually wrapped in clingfilm so much that you couldn’t actually lift the receiver.

‘He was a danger to the public and a danger to himself.

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Adam admits failing to take adequate steps to protect himself, patients and dental assistants against cross-infection.

He explained in a letter to the GDC that he had ‘allowed considerable sloppiness’ to creep into his working practices.

Adam is accused of keeping his appointment book and telephone next to the working area, not routinely wearing protective gloves, not ensuring assistants were immunised against Hepatitis B and not having a spittoon for patients.

The grey-haired dentist is also charged with not employing adequate methods for checking periodontal condition or measuring root canals before treatment.

Adam, who has a second dental surgery at 18 Sunnycroft Road, Leicester, denies serious professional misconduct.

The hearing continues.

ends

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