Trends in dental complaints 2005–2015 – Did patients complain more during the recession?

In the UK, dentistry has changed dramatically over the last 30 years. Suffice to say that the General Dental Practitioner (GDP) of the mid-1980s would barely recognize the profession where it sits today: computerization, decontamination, cosmetic dentistry, corporate dentistry and evidence-based dentistry, to name but a few areas of transformation. And the list is actually much longer.

One area that has changed beyond all recognition is that of complaints/litigation against dentists. In this regard, there has been a significant increase in complaints to the General Dental Council (GDC) over the last 10 years.¹

Fear of litigation is an everyday reality for GDPs. It influences how we practise our dentistry.² Reports of risk-averse treatment planning are commonplace, as practitioners understandably want to avoid becoming another statistic in the GDC Fitness to Practise treadmill. Indeed, the Editor of the British Dental Journal (BDJ), Stephen Hancock, devoted an editorial ‘Defensive dentistry’ to this issue in 2014.³ It is also apparent, from the letters section of the BDJ, that fear of litigation even influences some of our colleagues' decisions in taking early retirement.⁴