Dr Mew calls on GDC to take seriously the level of stress and number of suicides among dental professionals with fitness-to-practice concerns by condemning recent, misleading media coverage.

Dear GDC,

It is interesting that the same day that there was a news item published in the Dentistry Bulletin with the headline "GDC discloses number of suicides among dental professionals with fitness to practice concerns", we also saw the first coverage appear following the verdict in my tribunal - possibly the longest and most expensive dental tribunal in British legal history.

There was a particularly misleading and derogatory article that appeared in The Independent which had the headline "TikTok ‘mewing’ orthodontist struck off after boy, 6, had ‘seizure-like episode’" and several other articles followed that also mentioned seizures.

Had there been any seizures that had resulted directly from 'mewing’ or orthotropics then this would have been mentioned in the tribunal’s findings, but there was no mention of seizures at all as Patient B had in fact had post-traumatic episodes that followed past medical interventions which were in no way related to 'mewing’ or orthotropics.

Had I actually treated Patient B then this would also have been mentioned in the tribunal’s findings, but in actual fact while I recommended expansion in my suggested treatment plan, the treatment itself was provided by another professional entirely.

And had I been responsible for causing any significant harm then again this would have been mentioned in the tribunal’s findings, but in reality not only were there no findings of dishonesty made against me, but the tribunal also found that the Orthotropic treatment that I provided caused harm that wasn’t in any way different from the type of minor and transient harm caused by mainstream Orthodontics. Indeed, the mother of the other patient in the tribunal, Patient A, was very happy with the treatment and the outcome. Her testimony was exceedingly favourable towards me, but it was unfortunately almost ignored by the tribunal.

These articles that focus on seizures are therefore not only misleading, but are also exceedingly derogatory in an unacceptably inaccurate manner.

Thus if the GDC is serious in addressing the level of stress and number of suicides among dental professionals with fitness to practise concerns, that is often amplified by inaccurate and negative press coverage like this, then will it join with me in actively condemning The Independent and all the other news outlets that published articles that focused on seizures and in asking them to publish a retraction or allow a right of reply?

This would be really helpful, while we prepare our appeal. Please give this the uttermost speed.

Kind regards,
Dr. Mike Mew