Police investigate dental practice at centre of contamination alert

By FRANK URQUHART
Published on 24/05/2012 13:11

POLICE have launched an investigation into claims an unregistered dentist was working at the dental clinic at the centre of a contamination alert this week.

NHS Grampian said on Tuesday that almost 1,000 patients at the Bridge of Don Dental Clinic and Research Centre in Aberdeen had been contacted by letter as a matter of urgency because of concerns about infection control procedures.

It said an inspection in March found infection control procedures at the practice, including those for instrument decontamination, did not meet national standards. The clinic is now at the centre of a police investigation.

Three dentists who had been working at the practice when it opened in January resigned in March, according to NHS Grampian, and another dentist is now working there.

The practice is operated by Dr Ronnie Barogiannis, a Swedish national, who is not a registered dentist in the UK, and is owned by him and his mother, Mrs Eli Barogiannis.

A spokesman for the practice said: “The sole dentist working at our clinic is registered with the General Dental Council and with the NHS to treat list patients.”