A Fife dental practice has been instructed to apologise to a patient for delays in treating a painful abscess.
A patient known as Mr C complained to the Ombudsman about the treatment he received.
He went to the dentist with toothache and was found to have an abscess, discharging pus, from the gumline between his third and fourth lower-right teeth.
As Mr C was already taking a course of antibiotics prescribed by his GP, the dentist said he should let the inflammation settle before returning to have the teeth extracted. His teeth were later removed but the pain and swelling continued.
He then booked an emergency appointment and the abscess was found on the first lower-right tooth. Mr C was sent to local maxillofacial surgeons who provided intravenous antibiotics and removed all his lower teeth.
Mr C complained that his dentist did not provide reasonable treatment during the first consultation. He said he was not already taking antibiotics and that these were prescribed when he found it necessary to visit his GP after being unable to get an emergency appointment with his dentist.
But the ombudsman found that was not the case and said there was clear evidence the antibiotics had been prescribed before Mr C visited the dentist.
The ombudsman was satisfied the dentist could not provide any immediate treatment and so he did not uphold this complaint.
However, the ombudsman was critical that the dentist had not taken additional x-rays to identify the true location of the abscess.
“The failure to do so delayed treatment by around two weeks,” and so the ombudsman upheld Mr C’s complaint that the care and treatment was unreasonable. The ombudsman was satisfied the two teeth extracted had to come out in any case.
It found no evidence suggesting emergency appointments were requested and refused and did not uphold that complaint.
The ombudsman recommended the dentist apologise for the delay to the treatment of the abscess and take note of the adviser’s comments about the need for additional x-rays, to identify any points of learning for future treatment.