Carol Somerville Roberts shares her personal experience of fitness to practise proceedings and advice for other dental professionals on how to cope.
It was a beautiful spring day when I opened the letter that would flip my world upside down. The letter no dentist ever wants to receive: notification from the General Dental Council (GDC) that a complaint had been made against me and a fitness to practise (FtP) investigation was underway. In that instant, everything changed.
Until then, I naively assumed that only ‘bad’ dentists were investigated. So, what did that make me? As the panic set in, I had to compose myself and carry on with my day. I was, after all, a practice owner and a busy clinician. Patients were waiting.
