FATAL COLLAPSE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 201, 25 August 1937, Page 8

FATAL COLLAPSE.

IN DENTAL SURGERY. PROSECUTION AS SEQUEL MECHANIC NOT REGISTERED. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, this day. In the Police Court to-day Frank Wheeler was fined £2 for practising dentistry when not registered. It was stated that Wheeler was a dental employed by a local dentist, but had had, previous to the present regulations, 20 years' experience in the; practice of dentistry. The dentist who employed him had been ill for some lime, and had an arrangement with another dentist to visit his room daily for operations. On July 15 a man named Barrett had an appointment for extractions with chloroform. A doctor was engaged, but the locum tenens dentist had to leave and Wheeler commenced the job. The patient collapsed and died after the first extraction. The circumstances were fully investigated by the coroner, who found that all due care had been exercised in making the extraction. Counsel stated that steps were being taken to secure Wheeler's registration. Competent men said his work compared favourably with that of qualified dentists. The magistrate remarked that the circumstances were special. If defendant had been regularly engaged in extracting teeth he would have taken a serious view.