A retained root causes a patient complaint against a dentist. Watch this short video to find out how the situation arose and what advice Dental Protection gave.

Children can often be the foundation stone of a successful dental practice as how you treat and look after someone’s child will often influence the attendance patterns of the parents and other family members.

A patient in pain can create headaches for the practice too. Making sure you attend to a patient's needs, and can prove you did so, are paramount...

Patients cannot be relied upon to second-guess your treatment plans. Making sure they understand what is reasonably expected of them along with any consequences of non-compliance is essential...

Issuing warnings or important information to a sedated patient is never recommended. As this case demonstrates, you should make sure the patient understands any possible outcomes before treatment starts...

Medical history isn’t the definitive article of a patient’s situation – sometimes you must dig a little deeper to ensure you do no harm...

Mistakes can be made when writing referral letters, double checking the details can only help avoid anything like this happening...

As this case demonstrates, seemingly grateful patients can have gripes...

Without paying due attention to a patient’s medical history and asking any questions to augment it where necessary, you can’t be sure of eliminating potential problems...

When three opinions clash in the settlement of a difference in clinical opinion, something is clearly amiss...

As this case illustrates, making comments without knowing the full story can lead to problems...

Tragic situations can arise where dentists are alleged to be to blame, such as in this case where only good record keeping saved the clinician a great deal of worry and stress...

As this cautionary case illustrates, keeping good records is the key to fending off bogus allegations...

If you don’t record discussions with patients and warnings in the records, how can you hope to defend against a claim for negligence?

Although patients have fears and concerns, without following your duty of care you could be leaving yourself open to claims of negligence, as this case illustrates...

Sometimes no matter how well you care for a patient, things still don't go as planned...

Although the following case is unusual, it highlights the need to be sure the patient you’re treating matches the name on the record card...

As this case demonstrates, medical and social history can be of equal importance in many outcomes...

Seeking and documenting the patient’s views is always better than making assumption...

Quality of care and the standards expected of a clinician can always be called into question, as this case illustrates...

If a lawyer representing a patient asks you to write a report, truth and accuracy are essential to protect your integrity...