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GEDLING, UK: Thousands of patients treated by a dentist at Daybrook Dental Surgery in Gedling near Nottingham have been recalled by NHS England in Nottinghamshire to be tested for blood-borne viruses. Dr Desmond Jude D’Mello was recently suspended for 18 months by the General Dental Council for violation of cross-infection control standards in multiple cases.
Police are also investigating the death of a woman believed to have been treated by the dentist and who died of viral acute myocarditis last year.
Charges against D’Mello arose after a whistle-blower sent secretly filmed footage to the NHS.
Overall, he is believed to have treated more than 20,000 patients since he started practising at the clinic in the early 1980s.
While NHS investigations found that he did not carry blood-borne viruses himself, the patients he saw could have been placed at low risk of being exposed to hepatitis B or C and HIV, Medical Director for NHS England in Nottinghamshire Dr Doug Black said.
He said that his organisation is currently working with Public Health England and the General Dental Council to resolve the issue. Support is also being provided by Southern Dental, which has been running D’Mello’s former practice since August, according to Black.
Patients believed to have been treated by the dentist are advised to contact the authorities for further advice. NHS has set up a community clinic at the health centre in Arnold, as well as a telephone line, to support patients treated by the dentist.
“Effective treatments are available for all blood-borne viruses,” Dr Vanessa MacGregor , Consultant in Communicable Disease Control for Public Health England in the East Midlands, said.
