KEY POINTS:
A dentist has been found responsible for a botched root canal that led to a patient needing more than $10,000 in dental repairs.
The Health and Disability Commissioner found Adrian Cable breached the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers Rights when he failed to adequately inform patient Paul Basten about the results of a root canal procedure performed in May 2001.
The commission also found the Tauranga dentist failed to provide Mr Basten with an "appropriate standard of care" after it ruled that as part of the same procedure the dentist had put a hole in the same tooth and filled it with a cotton pellet and dental cement.
The commissioner, in May, found Dr Cable failed to inform Mr Basten about the hole in the tooth and the fact it had been filled with a cotton pellet.
As a result of the findings, the commissioner requested Dr Cable review his practice of informing patients about procedures and the dentist sent Mr Basten a letter of apology.
According to Rae Lamb, deputy commissioner of Complaints Resolution, for the HDC, Dr Cable has completed both requests.
But Mr Basten believed the commissioner's recommendations were not enough: "It's a slap on the wrist with a bus ticket. The only debate is whether it's a wet bus ticket or a dry bus ticket."
Mr Basten said he first noticed problems with the tooth about eight months after the initial procedure but it was not until September 2004 that he went to another Tauranga dentist to have the tooth x-rayed.
He was told that only one of the tooth's roots had been cleared and this was believed to be the cause of the problem. He was referred to a specialist but decided to put it off because he was travelling to California and wanted a dentist friend there to have a look at the tooth.
In California, endodontist Dr John Masters discovered the cotton pellet, the hole in the tooth and the fact it had caused an infection.
"He [Dr Cable] didn't fix the problem, he just drilled a hole and filled it with cotton and put a filling on top," Mr Basten said. "It resulted in bone loss and a virtually non-reparable situation."
Mr Basten was told that because of the infection he would have to have two teeth removed and oral surgery to have them replaced. He had the last procedure in February. He estimated the whole procedure cost more than $10,000. So far ACC has paid for about 50 per cent of the work.
Dr Cable said he had agreed from the outset to comply with the findings no matter what the outcome. He had done what was asked and did not completely agree with the conclusions.
He was concerned some of his practice notes recorded in the report had been altered and has asked the HDC to review its findings.
Dr Cable said he accepted responsibility for some of the poor clinical recording of information that was noted in the report, specifically a conversation with Mr Basten regarding the prognosis of his tooth.
He maintains, however, that he informed Mr Basten he had only cleared one of the roots in his tooth and that further work on the tooth would be required.
Dr Cable pointed to an independent market research study in 2000 that rated his practice the best overall in New Zealand. "One of the things it specified was patients were very happy with how clearly I explained treatment options."
- Bay of Plenty Times
