'Revenge' dentist is struck off

A dentist from East Sussex has been struck off after he pulled out an 87-year-old grandmother's teeth without anaesthetic "to teach her a lesson".

The General Dental Council (GDC) found David Quelch, from Bexhill, guilty of serious professional misconduct.

The woman told the hearing she bled profusely after two teeth were removed at the St Leonards Road surgery.

She said Mr Quelch was paying her back for complaining to her GP about an earlier course of treatment in 2001.

Now retired

"I was very shocked and frightened," she said.

"I wanted to get away - I ran to the door and he called out, 'That'll teach you not to complain to the doctor about me'."

The GDC found "not proved" charges that Mr Quelch restrained the patient against her will and that extracting the teeth was not clinically necessary.

It said that, although he had now retired, he was being erased from the Dentists Register because he posed a serious potential risk to patients.

The dentist did not attend the hearing.