Anthony Dean Dick
Introduction
Anthony Dean Dick is a dentist — BChD, Stellenbosch University, 1997 — formerly registered with the General Dental Council under registration number 73942, who was erased from the register — struck off — on 21 February 2025 after a Professional Conduct Committee found he had sexually harassed two dental nurse colleagues at his practice. His fitness to practise was found impaired by reason of misconduct, and the Committee directed erasure from the Dentists Register with an immediate suspension covering the appeal period.
The hearing ran from 10 to 21 February 2025. Dick was present, represented by counsel instructed by Weightmans LLP. On a joint application, the whole hearing was held in private because the evidence concerned highly personal matters; the public determination is redacted accordingly.
Background Information
The case began with colleagues, not patients. In October 2022 Dental Nurse B complained about Dick’s behaviour, triggering Practice A’s internal investigation, during which Dental Nurse A — who had worked with him from 2014 to 2018 and returned in February 2020 — raised her own allegations. Practice A referred the matter to the GDC.
The GDC alleged workplace sexual harassment: sexualised remarks, obscene gestures, non-consensual touching, late-night text messages and sexual comments about patients, said to breach the GDC’s Standards for the Dental Team. Dental Nurse B, treated as a vulnerable witness, gave evidence from behind a screen with a supporter present.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Adjudicated vs. alleged. The findings below are regulatory findings made on the balance of probabilities by a GDC Professional Conduct Committee — not criminal convictions, and no criminal charge was involved. Dick was present and legally represented throughout. He admitted one head of charge and denied the rest; the Committee found the overwhelming majority proved. Two remarks about Dental Nurse A were found proved as facts, but the allegations that they were sexually motivated or harassing were found not proved.
Dick admitted head of charge 5.r — texting Dental Nurse B on 14 November 2020 at 04:14 and 04:16 in the morning: “Fuck this… I have been avoiding chatting with you to be professional, but cannot help myself anymore. I should not have to feel like this” — and admitted it was inappropriate and unprofessional. He denied the remainder, claiming the allegations were fabricated in retaliation for complaints about the nurses’ work. The Committee found the fabrication claim implausible and dismissed collusion, noting Dental Nurse B’s complaint was contemporaneous with the October 2022 incidents.
For Dental Nurse A, the Committee found proved that across 2014 to 2018 Dick grabbed her hips, thrust himself against her, told her to get into the “naughty cupboard”, said he had an erection, mimicked an erection with his arm, and grabbed his penis in front of her. It also found proved sexualised comments about her appearance — her hips needed “something to grab onto” — and that he told her he fancied her and was beautiful. In or around June 2018 he texted her at night that he loved her and that “you had never felt this way about anyone other than your wife before, or words to that effect”, then told her “you knew she wouldn’t say anything as she would not want you to get in trouble, or words to that effect” — in her account, she stopped replying, scared. A sexual remark about a patient and, around February 2020, telling her he had “missed her arse, or words to that effect”, were also found proved.
Two heads stopped short of sexual motivation: the Committee held the “naughty cupboard” remark and the comment that he could imagine her “in all sorts of positions, or words to that effect” were not unequivocally sexual, finding the sexual-motivation and harassment allegations not proved on those heads. The remaining findings about Dental Nurse A were sexually motivated and amounted to harassment (section 26(1), Equality Act 2010).
The findings on Dental Nurse B, covering 2020 to 2022, were more physical. The Committee found proved that Dick told her his penis was bigger than a ruler and measured it in front of her; asked if her vagina was “tight and/or like a bucket”; said he would ruin her vagina; and said he could tell if a patient was good at “giving blow jobs”, mimicking sex with patients after they left. Touching findings included grabbing her hips repeatedly in 2022 and on 17 October 2022, mimicking sex with her — she described him “humping” her — grabbing both her breasts, and slapping her bottom on 14 October 2022 and other occasions; those October incidents were the catalyst for her complaint. The Committee rejected his work-frustration explanation for the admitted text as “wholly implausible”, preferring meeting notes recording “I remember grabbing her” over his denial.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The Committee found the facts amounted to misconduct and that Dick’s fitness to practise was currently impaired, on public-protection and public-interest grounds. It characterised the behaviour as a premeditated course of conduct for his own sexual gratification, directed at two much younger female colleagues early in their careers, from a position of seniority and trust. In mitigation were his good character and lack of previous findings; in aggravation, a serious breach of trust, conduct sustained and repeated, unfounded accusations against the nurses made to cover up his wrongdoing, and limited insight and remediation.
No action, a reprimand and conditions were rejected — conditions could not be formulated to manage the risk from his sexual conduct — and suspension, even for 12 months, was held insufficient, his lack of insight representing deep-seated attitudinal problems and an ongoing risk of harm. Erasure was directed as the only appropriate and proportionate sanction.
Current Status
Dick is erased from the GDC register — struck off. Unless he appeals, erasure takes effect 28 days from deemed service of the direction; the immediate suspension covers that period and remains in place until any appeal concludes. The hearings service records the outcome as “Erased and Immediate suspension”.
Impact on Their Career/Life
A dentist of nearly three decades’ standing with no previous fitness to practise history, Dick lost his registration on colleague evidence alone. The Committee noted that the public it protects includes dental colleagues, and concluded that an abuse of a position of trust, sustained over years, was incompatible with continued registration. Unless he successfully appeals, the direction is final.