Surgery

Periodontics expert witnesses

Listed periodontics expert witnesses address the diagnosis and management of gum disease and its consequences. Undiagnosed periodontal disease leading to tooth loss is the most common subject of instruction.

Dental treatment in progress with instruments and retraction, the care periodontics expert witnesses assess

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The evidence

What a periodontics expert witness is asked to determine

Periodontal claims rest on whether the disease was screened for at all. Basic periodontal examination scores, pocket charting and radiographic bone levels recorded over successive visits usually establish both that disease was present and that it went unrecorded. Radiographic bone levels taken years apart are often the clearest evidence of progression, and their absence is itself a finding the report should record.

  • Whether periodontal screening and charting were carried out at appropriate intervals.
  • Whether bone loss visible on radiographs was identified and acted upon.
  • Whether the patient was informed of the diagnosis and of the risk to the dentition.
  • Whether treatment, including instruction and non-surgical therapy, met the expected standard.
  • What tooth loss would probably have been avoided by earlier diagnosis and treatment.

Practitioners are listed across all four UK nations. Location can be narrowed in the register’s location listings before an instruction is made.

Claim contexts

Claims that instruct this discipline

These links describe the question periodontics evidence can answer. They do not prescribe the scope of an individual instruction.

Search the register by the discipline used in the instruction.

See periodontics listings

Report routes

Reports prepared

Charting, radiographs and appointment records support a records review report. A breach and causation report addresses the tooth loss attributable to delay.

A condition and prognosis report sets out the restorative work now required. Each report page records what that type of report contains.

Periodontics expert witness evidence

A periodontist expert witness looks first for the screening that should have been recorded, because its absence is often the failing itself.

The register records discipline and coverage; the instruction is settled with the practitioner. See the British Society of Periodontology alongside the case material.

2,412 practitioners138 disciplinesFour UK nations

Directory search

Periodontics listings