Dentist who doesn′t diagnose oral cancer can still practice

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Dr. Nalin Dhamecha, a dentist who allegedly failed to recognize that a patient suffered from oral cancer, has been allowed to continue his practice of dentistry by the GDC. Early in September, 2008, Dr. Dhamecha, faced accusations that he failed to diagnose a tongue lesion in 2006, of a patient who died in July, 2007.
 
Dr. Dhamecha did diagnose on ulceration on the patient’s tongue, in May, 2006, but noted that it was due to denture trauma; he did not make note of the patient’s smoking history. During four other visits, Dr. Dhamecha failed to report that the lesion was not healing, and did not refer the patient to a specialist. He did perform an external oral examination and noted that the lymph nodes were normal.

The GDC passed judgement that there an ulceration from denture trauma could be part of the differential diagnosis, and that during a follow-up visit Dr. Dhamecha noted that the lesion was healing due to the patient no wearing the denture. During a surgery for a denture, the committee decided that Dr. Dhamecha should have again noticed the lesion on the tongue, and concluded that there were omissions in the documentation. He did not cause the patient’s death, however violated his duty to protect his patients from danger.
 
Although, there was sufficient evidence to represent misconduct, the GDC decided that it was not unreasonable for Dr. Dhamecha to believe that the lesion was from a faulty denture. Dr. Dhamecha was allowed to continue to practice dentistry with several stipulations, such as taking a ten hour continuing education practice that focuses on benign and malignant oral mucosal disorders, and keeping a log of any lesions that he notices in his patients for at least a year.

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