Manor Dental Surgery: ‘Dishonest’ Hampshire dentist in Park Gate barred from practising after hearing found she posed ‘high risk’ to public

The General Dental Council reported that Manori Dilini Balachandra has been ‘erased with immediate suspension’ from her position at Manor Dental Surgery on Hunts Pond Road.

Miss Balachandra prescribed antibiotics without justification, failed to keep medical records and given incorrect treatments to 11 patients in 2016, according to a hearing which concluded on Friday, February 3.

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The Dental Professional Hearings Service concluded that allowing Miss Balachandra to keep practising dentistry would pose a ‘high risk’ to the public.

The report stated: ‘The committee considered that, having identified this risk, it would be inappropriate and inconsistent to permit Ms Balachandra the opportunity to remain in unrestricted practice over the 28-day appeal period, or possibly longer, in the event of an appeal. An immediate order is therefore necessary for the protection of the public.’

She was further charged with fabricating ‘inaccurate’ records in 2018 and claiming they were written at the time of treatment given in 2017, in a manner described by the GDC chairman as ‘misleading and dishonest’. The hearing addressed ‘widespread and serious failings in [her] clinical practice in relation to multiple patients, covering basic aspects of dentistry.’ In one instance described, Miss Balachandra failed to provide emergency relief to a patient who wanted their sharp orthodontic brace to be smoothed.

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Will Richards, a cleaner from Waterlooville, said he is ‘relieved’ by the outcome. He paid in advance for dental work that was never carried out. He says he has spoken to many others online who have had poor experiences with Manor Dental practice and feels unhappy with the service he received there.

The 64-year-old said: ‘We’re all feeling that we’re still victims and that justice hasn’t been done.

‘Because there were no NHS dentists taking on patients, she had an endless source of new patients who are going to walk through the door. For somebody who is dishonest, that is a perfect opportunity to make a lot of money. It is a money making machine for somebody who has no scruples.

‘I moved down to Hampshire about two years ago and I did an NHS search and she was the only one in the whole of Hampshire taking on.

‘She did an X-ray on me and said I’ve got decay under my gold crown. She said she could take off the crown, treat the decay and then she would get a new crown.

‘Seven or eight weeks later, I’m still waiting and so I then start to ring up and I get fobbed off. My instincts were telling me “there’s something not right here”.

‘I joined a couple of Facebook groups in the area and then discovered the comments on there that go back years about awful treatment people have had. I then began to wonder whether there was ever decay under my gold crown. Having read all the comments, I now strongly believe that there isn’t.’

Mr Richards eventually made a chargeback claim with his bank having not received the treatment almost three months later. He has filed a complaint with the GDC to determine whether he received incorrect treatment and is also considering reporting the issue to the police.

Manor Dental Surgery was approached for comment.