A dentist pulled the wrong tooth out of a 15-year-old girl - and immediately put it back in.
The dentist was asked to remove three baby teeth in April last year. He took out two, but then, by mistake, removed an adult tooth instead of the third baby tooth.
The family dentist, "Dr B", was removing the teeth an orthodontist had required to be taken out, according to a report made public today by Health and Disability Commissioner Anthony Hill.
The girl, "Ms A", needed complex orthodontic treatment. She had several congenitally missing teeth, an incorrect bite and other dental issues.
The dentist said, "It was only upon its extraction that I then realised by the length of the root this mistake had occurred. My immediate response was to re-implant the tooth without delay."