The Care Quality Commission
  • Dentist
  • Dentist

Archived: Pearl Dental Clinic

144 Mitcham Road, Tooting, London, SW17 9NH (020) 8767 5151

Provided and run by:
Mr. Sandip Patel

All Inspections

6 March 2014

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Our visit carried out in September 2013 found suitable arrangements were not in place for infection control and record keeping at the practice. The provider wrote to us and told us that the owner of the building would put appropriate systems in place.

We visited Pearl Dental Clinic in March 2014 and found it was not being used as a dentist but another type of business. There was no evidence to suggest that recent dental treatments had been completed. We spoke with the dentist, who said that he did not work at the location and would be applying to cancel the location from his registration with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We noted that this application and a notification to inform the CQC that the location was no longer operating had not been completed twelve days after our visit.

We were not able to speak with people who use the service because there was no evidence of recent dental treatment being carried out.

11 September 2013

During a routine inspection

During our visit to Pearl Dental Clinic there were no staff working at the practice that were available to speak with us. We were shown where the dentist's equipment was by staff from an adjacent business place, but carried out the inspection without their involvement. We contacted a patient by telephone following our visit.

The patient we spoke with said that the dentist who assessed them explained possible treatments options clearly. They said that they did not see any issues in relation to infection control.

We saw that infection control systems were not in place with sterilised dental equipment stored in in open pouches some of which were not dated. The sharps bin was almost full and there were no clinical waste bins. The section in the decontamination area used for cleaning dirty dental equipment was also used for washing cups. The autoclaves were dirty and one machine had mould inside the door.

The dental records we saw were not stored securely and were left in an unlocked drawer in the main reception area. Some of the records did not have the patient's details including address, date of birth and general practitioner contact details. Some medical histories were not signed or dated and did not indicate that they had been reviewed prior to treatment.