Dundee dentist suspended for second time
A dentist in Dundee has been suspended for the second time in his career as a result of multiple failings in the care of as many as 10 of his patients.
Ronald Tod Findlay, of South Kingennie Steadings, worked at the Princes Street Dental Centre. He was placed under investigation after £5,033.59 was recovered from him in March 2010 when he was caught “misclaiming” items for patient treatments.
This revelation resulted in the General Dental Council forming an inquiry into 10 of his patient records. In these records, numerous shortcomings were revealed. These failings included submitting inappropriate claims for patient’s treatment, allegations of causing damage to the dentition of patients, and failing to diagnose the decay and crumbling of teeth.
Mr Findlay had previously admitted to the charge of supplying 22 patients with non-precious materials for fillings whilst charging them the price of gold in October 2004, and was convicted of defrauding the NHS in what was a landmark prosecution. Mr Findlay’s prosecution was a first in dental legal history as it was the first time in Scotland that a dentist had been prosecuted on such a charge. The result of the charge was that Mr Findlay was suspended from the profession of dentistry for three months the following year.
He has now been suspended for a year as a result of the failings found in the recent investigation.
The decision notice stated that “The committee finds that Mr Findlay’s failings were of a serious nature and were repeated in as many as 10 individual patient cases over a considerable number of consecutive years.”
The committee identified recurring failures in multiple aspects of his practice, including shortcomings in basic areas of dentistry. According to the findings, Mr Findlay had not worked as a dentist since December 2014, and has no intention of doing so again.
