Expert discipline
Periodontist expert witnesses
Opinion on whether gum disease was screened for, diagnosed and treated to the standard the records should show.
What the discipline covers
The speciality of the tissues that support the teeth.
The speciality
Periodontist
A dentist on the GDC’s periodontics specialist list, concerned with the tissues supporting the teeth and their loss over a course of care.
Common instructionSpecialist periodontal practice, or bone loss read across a long course of care.
General practice
General practitioner
Where a general dental practitioner delivered the care, the GDP standard applies. A periodontist applying specialist standards to general practice has answered the wrong question.
Common instructionRoutine periodontal care delivered by a general practice, judged by a GDP expert.
Instruction scope
What these experts report on.
Failure to screen, diagnose or treat
Whether periodontal disease was screened for, diagnosed and treated to the expected standard.
Bone-level interpretation
Reading bone loss across years of radiographs to establish when the failure began.
Teeth competent care would have kept
Which teeth would probably have survived had the disease been managed to standard.
Peri-implantitis
Including implants placed into active or untreated periodontal disease.
Contributory factors
Plaque control, smoking and diabetes, and their weight on the causation argument.
How we match
Specialist practice, or the standard of a general practice.
A periodontist where specialist periodontal practice is in issue, or where bone loss must be interpreted across a long course of care.
Where the question is what a general dental practitioner should have done, a GDP expert with periodontal medico-legal experience is the correct author.
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01
Specialist practice in issue
Periodontist
Where specialist periodontal treatment is the subject of the claim.
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02
General practice delivered the care
GDP expert
A general practitioner with periodontal medico-legal experience, judged by the GDP standard.
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03
Bone loss across a long course
Periodontist
Where radiographs must be read across years to establish when the failure began.
The report you receive
Whether the standard was met, and which teeth would have survived.
Screening and diagnosis
Whether the disease was screened for and diagnosed to standard.
Treatment
Whether the treatment provided met the expected standard.
Which teeth would have survived
The teeth competent care would probably have preserved.
Why solicitors instruct us
Radiographs decide these claims.
The radiographs come first
Bone levels across a decade tell you when the failure began. Our experts read them before offering a view on merits.
The claimant’s own mouth is the defence
Plaque control and smoking are always raised. An expert who cannot weigh them will not carry the causation argument.
A named case manager
One point of contact coordinates the instruction, expert correspondence and delivery of the report.
FAQs
Commonly asked questions
A screening examination of the gums, scored by sextant. It indicates what further examination and treatment are needed. It is not a diagnosis.
A periodontist, or a GDP expert where the treating clinician was a general practitioner.
It is relevant to causation and to contributory negligence. It rarely disposes of a claim on its own.
Yes, and as single joint expert. The duty to the court is unchanged.
Discuss an instruction