A dentist who accidentally severed his patient's lingual nerve during a wisdom tooth extraction has been found to have breached professional standards.
The dentist did not notice the injury at the time of the procedure or during two follow-up appointments in late 2019 and early 2020.
The patient, a man in his 20s, suffered permanent nerve damage as a result.
In her decision, Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner Dr Vanessa Caldwell found the dentist had failed to monitor the patient during the surgery or perform adequate follow-up examinations.
Caldwell also said the dentist had neglected to keep proper patient notes and had delayed in referring the man to a specialist or for an ACC injury claim.
However, she found the dental service "did not depart from the appropriate standard of care".
"In my view, the dentist’s errors were the result of individual clinical decision-making, and were not directly the result of shortcomings in the policies and procedures of the dental service."
Caldwell recommended an audit of the dentist's notes, complete safe sedation training, and an apology to the patient.
The dentist told the Health and Disability Commission he has taken the incident seriously and is confident it will not happen again.
"I am pleased to see the dentist has learned from this incident, and made changes to his practice," said Caldwell.
The dental service has also implemented new policies for sedation and treatment injury since the incident.
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