Dentist gave teenager £5 for being ‘a good girl’

A Norfolk dentist who gave a teenager £5 and told her it was for being a ‘good girl’ has been struck off.

Among a string of charges, dentist Stephen Cramp also called the patient’s mother ‘the old bat’.

During the treatment between 2003 and 2005 he also failed to consult the mother or ask her about her daughter’s medical history.

The General Dental Council (GDC) found him guilty of a ‘continuing pattern of misconduct’ for a period of at least eight years.

The allegations concerned treatment of three patients and concerned issues of dishonesty, competence and clinical performance, communication, record keeping, consent, inappropriate behaviour, complaints handling, dignity and respect for patients and lack of understanding of professional limitations.

The charges included charging for private work and claiming again for the treatment on the NHS, giving orthodontic treatment he was not qualified to do and the mishandling of complaints.
Mr Cramp, who qualified in 1973, treated patients at the West Street practice in Cromer and the Heartsease Dental practice in Norwich until November 2007.

He did not attend the hearing, claiming ill health.

Cramp was also found guilty of not making a record of another patient’s periodontal condition, failing to provide adequate advice and treatment, failing to tell her NHS treatment was available, failing to carry out assessments and failing to make clinical records.

He charged a third patient £400 for private treatment while also making a claim on the NHS. He also failed to take an X-ray before starting work on her crown in 2006 – which fell out seven months later, in March 2007 – and did not tell her about NHS options.

The Committee said that: ‘because of the widespread nature and gravity of the facts found proved against Mr Cramp, his lack of insight and his failure to remedy his previous misconduct, the protection of the public requires the imposition of immediate suspension of Mr Cramp’s registration’.

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