AIBU? Dentist related

[BurtsBoots]

A genuine AIBU as I don't know....
I had some dental treatment which went wrong and the dentist (let's call him Dr Smith) did a really bad job. Won't bore you with the details but I ended up having to call 111 and go to an emergency dentist as I was in so much pain. They confirmed the work was really badly done and found a piece of temporary material that had been left underneath a new cap and was causing infection, as well as other issues and a generally botched job.

In addition, for all three of my morning appointments with Dr Smith he arrived late - as in, turned up to work late as I saw him rushing in - and blamed traffic. He then preceded to rush through my appointments.

Anyway I decided to complain to the original dentist surgery. I asked for their complaints procedure and wrote to the named manager, receiving a courtesy response saying they would investigate and get back to me.

Today I received a call from an unknown number which went to voicemail. It was Dr Smith leaving a very long voicemail. He said he no longer works at the surgery (don't know why) but would like to explain himself in person to me and rectify the pain I am in. He was rather OTT in his language, hard to describe but very overly polite and going on and on about how he would like to explain to me in person at the surgery, even though he no longer works there, and rectify the issue. (There's nothing more that can be done treatment wise without causing more damage, according to the emergency dentist, so I'm not quite sure what he thinks he's going to do).

AIBU to think it's odd the surgery gave him my personal number now he no longer works there? AIBU to not want to see him in person and have him explain himself? And AIBU to think the surgery manager ought to have emailed me with a "here's what we're proposing to do" rather than just have Dr Smith call me out of the blue?

I would be complaining about everything - the cock up, the unprofessionalism re: the follow up as well as giving out personal details to someone that is no longer employed there.

YANBU. Very odd behaviour, I’d have definitely expected all contact to be through the Dental surgery manager and that the dentist. I’d also question how he has your contact details now if he’s no longer employed there.

That doesn’t sound right at all. Might be worth speaking to the professional body on this one - I reckon he’s had problems before and is desperate not to get a complaint.

I suspect this could be a GDPR breach to add to your complaint.

@Leftbutcameback

That doesn’t sound right at all. Might be worth speaking to the professional body on this one - I reckon he’s had problems before and is desperate not to get a complaint.

I agree. I doubt the dental practice are aware he noted your number down and is contacting you directly.

How is he going to make things right if he doesn't work there any more? I'd be afraid of a Marathon Man session!

Ok, so the general consensus is that this isn't right. I'm thinking I complain again to the surgery practice manager about this step and the lack of communication from them directly.

I think they surgery want to palm off the complaint so they told him and gave your details.

They want to get rid of the complaint off their book e.g. it wasnt us it was him and cos he no longer works here it aint our problem any more. So they gave him your number to sort it.

What can he possibly do?? It surely lies with his employer unless he is planning on paying you directly which is surely not possible. Have you checked that he is actually qualified?

Surely the practice needs to accept that the work was poor, recompense you for both the cost and the inconvenience and distress caused and apologise.

I think he’s very worried that you have suit for malpractice and is trying to avoid it, which makes me think you should pursue the original complaint with all the more vigour.

@cansu I am on maternity exemption so haven't paid, apart from the small fee to the 111 dentist. But yes I was looking for an apology from the surgery practice.

That is quite a breach of confidentiality on top of terrible care. I advise getting in touch with a lawyer and suing. I suspect he got in touch with you to try and dissuade you from doing so.

Personally I think it's the dental surgery at fault.

They should have answered the complaint and not try to palm it off- I'm assuming they gave your details to him so he could try and sort it.
In the end if he is a properly registered dental practitioner he will be indemnified, in case you did wish to pursue the complaint. It's just better to get it sorted before it gets to that stage.

Obviously he doesnt want the complaint to be carried forward. But it needs to be sorted via the Dental Practice as an intermediary rather than just all pushed onto the dentist.

Doesn't sound professional, if you want to take it further, apart from the practice you can complain to the GDC who regulates standards in the UK
olr.gdc-uk.org/SearchRegister
You can also check there if he has a license to practice still

Phone gdc

Give the practice manager a chance to resolve this. Dentists are usually self employed associates in practice rather than PAYE.

Also to add further, the practice manager probably doesn't know that this dentist has unilaterally decided to contact you.

Thanks all. I've emailed the practice manager and asked how Dr Smith obtained my personal contact details. I've also complained about the lack of response. Checking through correspondence I see that practice manager did promise a full response to me by today. I hope he doesn't think that Dr Smith's voicemail will suffice.