A WELLINGTON mum is outraged after a dental practice refused to treat her or her children after missed dental appointments.

The Wellington Dental Practice told Catherine Farinha they would no longer be able to offer dental treatment to her three children – Leonardo, Danillo, Riel - due to a ‘breakdown in communication and trust’.

And when Mrs Farinha sent an email to complain about the decision, the practice then reminded her of three appointments she had missed over the past two years, and said they would no longer be able to treat her either as a private patient. However, they have agreed to still treat Mrs Farinha’s husband – who is now planning to leave the practice over the incident.

Daphne Kasai, practice manager at Wellington Dental Practice, said a decision to remove patients from the practice list is “not taken lightly”.

Mrs Farinha said: “The practice said I would be the ideal candidate for a brace and I was referred elsewhere for treatment and quoted £7,000.

“I complained and Wellington Dental agreed to take on my three children as NHS patients, even though they haven’t taken on NHS patients since 2018.

“But now they are refusing to treat my children because of missed appointments.

“There was no warning, no phone call, just a letter saying that they would no longer treat the children. Now, they have also refused to treat me because I wrote an email to complain.

“I think it is appalling and disgraceful behaviour. Children shouldn’t be culled for a minor incident.”

The children missed two appointments, one in August 2020 and one in April this year, while Mrs Farinha missed or was late to three appointments over the past two years – one in May 2019, she was late to one in August 2020 and missed one in September 2020.

But she has stressed that nearly every time an appointment has been missed, she has tried to call to cancel.

One of Mrs Farinha’s children, Danillo, has a brace and she believes this is the worst time to refuse him dental treatment. Luckily, she has now been taken on by another dentist in Wellington, but Danillo won’t be able to get a check-up until October, due to a long waiting list during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“They have to make their money back somehow and it would appear they are doing so at the expense of children’s dental health,” Mrs Farinha added.

“I always tried to let the practice know I couldn’t make the appointments because I couldn’t always get through to speak to someone.”

Wellington Dental Practice have said they cannot comment on specific cases due to patient confidentiality, but they aim to offer a high level of care.

“Wellington Dental Practice prides itself on offering a high level of care and aims to provide the very best service to all patients,” added Ms Kasai.

“That’s why patients are encouraged to attend or cancel their appointments in advance, so that others may access the same patient care. We offer an email and text message reminder service, to help them do so.

“For further information we would urge the patient to contact their local NHS England Area Team.”