Morecambe dental technician ordered to work under supervision after complaints over dentures

Christopher Gower is under an interim conditional registration order which was put in place after a Dental Professionals Hearing.

The order, originally for a period of 15 months from March 2022, has now been extended until June 29 2024 while investigations by the General Dental Council (GDC) continue.

It follows reports by four patients in Colne between January and November 2020 who made complaints about the care provided by Mr Gower when being fitted for dentures, and issues which followed after having dentures fitted by Mr Gower.

Problems included dentures being too large, leaving a patient in pain and unable to eat, not being the correct colour and being poorly made.

On one occasion, the patient was told Mr Gower "had dropped the dentures" and "they would take some time to fix".

The patients complaining had paid up to £1,000 for the dentures.

A report in December 2021 noted that the four patient complaints were made over a relatively short period, and raised wide-ranging and serious concerns regarding Mr Gower's practice, concluding that "the care provided ... between 23 July 2018 and 18 December 2019 was significantly below the level of professional practice reasonably expected of a clinical dental technician".

In making the interim order, the committee stated that "there is cogent evidence of a risk of harm to patients should you be allowed to practise without restriction whilst the concerns against you continue to be investigated by the GDC".

Mitigating material included "the lack of any other complaint over a lengthy practising career; the testimonials in support of you from patients and professional peers; the steps you have taken to address the concerns raised against you".

The committee also acknowledged that Mr Gower had changed practices since the complaints in 2019, and was no longer working in a ‘toxic’ environment and felt better supported by other members of the dental team.

However, when considering the case the committee concluded that there "remains a risk of harm to patients should you be allowed to practise without any interim restriction on your registration".

The committee could not be satisfied that the concerns raised in this case were isolated. It was also noted that some of the patients who made the complaints appeared to be vulnerable patients, in that they were elderly.

"In the committee’s judgment, public confidence in the profession and this regulatory process would also be seriously undermined if no interim order were to be made," the report said.

At a review hearing in February, it was noted that there had been "no material change in circumstances following the last hearing before the Interim Orders Committee review on 31 August 2022 that would necessitate an amendment to the current interim order of conditions” and that the interim conditions should continue without variation.

Mr Gower – who has worked in Morecambe both before and after the complaints were made – has a list of interim conditions he must abide by, which can be found under his name in the GDC register.

Included in this are that he must be supervised when providing dental services, and his work must be reviewed weekly by the supervisor.