16 - Disappointing crowns

A member contacted Dental Protection having received a letter from a former patient's lawyer. The letter made allegations relating to the provision of various crowns that the patient claimed had been poorly executed and now required replacement some nine months later. It soon became clear however that the crowns that were the subject of the allegations had not been provided or fitted by the member.

The computer-generated record left an enormous amount to be desired but it did demonstrate that the member was not responsible for the crowns in question. However there was nothing in the notes to indicate that over the four years during which the member had seen the patient that he was aware of the clinical condition of other restorations in the mouth. Similarly there was no record that any discussion had ever taken place with the patient about the crowns in question. Although the member could be considered vulnerable to some of the allegations that were made by the lawyers it was fortunate that after representations made by Dental Protection, the lawyers decided not to pursue the case against the member.

It is now possible to store photographs and radiographs digitally on a computerised system. It must, however, also be possible to reproduce these images should the need arise as various authorities require that hard copies are available upon request. Most clinical systems available in the market place today will allow for this but it is worth checking with the manufacturer prior to purchase of a system. The use of computers has opened some tremendous new possibilities within dentistry. The possibility of referral by e-mail to virtually any specialist in the world is not only feasible but also eminently practical.

The use of intra-oral and in-surgery cameras could mean that a patient could be examined (at least visually) by a specialist in New York without the patient having to leave the practice in Kingston, Jamaica or Kingston Upon Thames for that matter. Such ‘referrals' are already undertaken in the more remote areas of the world where transportation to a specialist clinic is impossible. The options are therefore endless, but with computerisation comes a new set of problems that the dentist must address. The advantages far outweigh the problems provided a careful and sensible approach is used at all times.

If you have not embraced the computer age so far and regard yourself as something of a technophobe, then the world may well be passing you by.