Consumer report rates more than half of dentists 'poor'

20^th October 2011 - An undercover investigation by a consumer magazine into dentists in England found that more than half of those sampled were rated 'poor' or 'very poor'.

A report by Which? says that dentists frequently rushed examinations, missed out on important checks and recommended inappropriate treatment plans.

While more NHS dentists than private clinicians fell into the 'poor' or 'very poor' categories, one of the worst performing dentists among those investigated was a private practitioner.

'Concerned'

The two dental regulators say they are "concerned" by the report, but one, the Care Quality Commission, points out that only a small number of dentists were visited.

Which? says it sent undercover researchers with dental problems to 20 dentists in England in June 2011 with the task of measuring how dentists dealt with their case history, how they carried out clinical examination, what treatment plan they recommended and the standard of customer service at the practice.

The visits were divided equally between NHS and private practices.

The researchers made covert audio recordings of what happened during their visit and these were later assessed by a panel of four experts with experience in current NHS and private dentistry. Those who marked the dentists on their performance either had experience at general dental practitioner or consultant level, the magazine says.

Findings

Among the key findings in the report are that:

• Five visits lasted less than 10 minutes, with two dentists spending just five minutes with their new patients
• On five visits, X-rays were not offered, despite it being standard practice to X-ray a new patient’s teeth unless health or other problems make this inappropriate
• Checks on the soft tissue inside the mouth, important to screen for oral cancers and other medical conditions, were reported on only five of the 20 visits
• Only three of the 20 dentists examined the face and neck, necessary to check for swollen glands

NHS dentists came out worse in every category. For instance, when it came to being examined in the dentists' chair, six out of the ten NHS dentists were ranked 'poor' or 'very poor', compared with two out of 10 among private dentists. Tooth decay was ignored by three out of five NHS dentists for one researcher. The experts said one dentist failed to spot it because she wasn’t offered an X-ray, while another sent her away saying she need not book another appointment for two years.

They also scored poorly for treatment plans offered to patients, with eight out of 10 being ranked in the lowest categories, compared with five out of 10 for those in the private sector.

However, one of the worst dentists to be sampled involved a private appointment which lasted seven minutes and where the dentist missed important checks, offered inappropriate treatment and communicated poorly, according to Which?

Overall, seven out of 10 NHS dentists and four out of 10 private dentists were placed in the 'poor' or 'very poor' categories, a total of 11 out of 20 altogether. Only three visits out of the 20 were rated ‘good’ and none were placed in the ‘excellent’ category.