Hundreds of the former patients of Nottinghamshire dentist Mr Desmond D’Mello who are now claiming with our leading Daybrook Dental Negligence Team have had their say on their experiences with him.
Film footage from a whistle blower showed evidence that he was ignoring important infection control procedures which has led to a 22,000 patient recall of a scale and nature that has never been seen in the UK before.
As a midlands based law firm with specialist expertise in dental claims, psychological injuries, and group action claims, we’re at the heart of the crisis, and we’re best placed to advise and represent any former patient who wants justice for what has happened. That’s why we firmly believe that we’ve taken on and are already pursuing more claims than any other law firm out there.
As we’re on the front line of it all, we’ve gained a valuable insight in to what hundreds of victims of Mr D’Mello thought about him and the practice in general – and we’re hearing the same things from many different people.
Rushed and Busy Practice
Some appointments were completed in record times of less than a couple of minutes. It was ‘in and out’ according to many of our clients, and several have described it as a ‘conveyor belt’ system.
D’Mello would often already be wearing gloves when he would be rushing up and down corridors and calling patients in, leaving many to suspect he hadn’t changed them at all between patients, which is one of the primary allegations. Instruments and equipment were laid out in ready for the appointment – which to many may seem like an efficient way of running a practice, but the concern is that equipment laid out had been used on the patient before.
Again, one of the primary allegations is a failure to use sterilised / properly sterilised equipment, which is a serious breach of NHS infection control procedures.
A Distracted and Disinterested Dentist
Many have said that he appeared to pay little attention to them as a patient. There would be very little in the way of questions about dental hygiene and oral health, and he’d be more interested in talking about his own family life. Some have said he was always very chatty and seemed to enjoy talking to them about his family a lot.
It seems he may have been paying little attention to what he was actually doing when operating his rapid in and out appointment system. No one really picked up on it as a problem because people generally inherently trust that the medical professionals we put our lives and safety in the hands of are doing what they should be doing.
This is all of course speculation based on accounts from our clients. We’re still yet to get a response to our letters of claim that have been sent to the relevant parties, and we’re still yet to get any answers or insight from the man himself about why he decided to turn his back on patient safety. Based on the evidence so far, we can only estimate reasoning behind it.
Interestingly, as we have said in many of our blogs, practically all of the people we’re helping have agreed that he was generally a nice person and he was well liked and friendly. But this has only served to make this whole situation worse as may feel they have been betrayed by more of a friend than just a dentist.
We’ll keep you posted as we continue to take on cases and lead the way in the fight for justice for those who have been affected by what has happened.
For help and advice, call our specialist Daybrook Dental Team on 0800 634 7575 today.
