Hossein Abbasi
Introduction
Hossein Abbasi is a dentist who qualified from the University of Oslo in 1997 and registered with the General Dental Council in 2001. In November 2022 a Professional Conduct Committee of the GDC erased him from the dentists register after finding that his clinical care of eight patients fell far below acceptable standards, that he treated a colleague in an unprofessional and aggressive way, and that he tried to intimidate a second member of staff to influence her evidence. The panel also found he failed to engage with the GDC’s requests for information about his indemnity and employment status .
Background Information
Between January 2018 and December 2018 Abbasi worked at an NHS and private dental practice, referred to in the determination as Practice 1. The determination describes Practice 1 as “not a happy environment allegedly in part because of Mr Abbasi’s behaviour towards both colleagues and patients”. He had a prior fitness-to-practise history: in May 2016 the GDC’s Investigating Committee issued him a warning over failures to maintain adequate cross-infection controls. The 2022 case was built on patient records, witness statements and two expert reports from dental clinical adviser Jane Ford .
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
The allegations concerned the care and treatment of eight patients, including a failure to treat three of them with kindness and respect. The panel’s clinical findings, informed by Ford’s evidence, included failures to adequately carry out and record caries, oral cancer and periodontal disease risk assessments, failures to record presenting symptoms, failures to update or record updated medical histories, and failures to report on radiographic findings. Ford’s view was that most of the charges found proved constituted failings far below an acceptable standard, and that taken together Abbasi’s conduct “fell far below the standards expected of a reasonably competent dentist” .
Beyond the clinical failings, the committee found that Abbasi treated a fellow member of staff in a way that was unprofessional and aggressive. More seriously, after his referral to the GDC he tried to intimidate a second member of staff in order to influence her evidence before the tribunal — conduct the panel treated as an aggravating feature rather than a peripheral matter. The GDC also alleged, and the committee heard evidence on, his failure to provide information requested about his indemnity and employment status, which fell under the non-engagement strand of the case .
The committee divided its misconduct findings into two categories: a poor standard of clinical treatment and record keeping across the eight patients, and poor attitude and behaviour towards colleagues. The combination of repeated clinical failings over a period of time with misconduct directed at the people around him — including an attempt to shape testimony — pushed the case beyond a conditions or suspension outcome in the committee’s assessment of the public interest .
Public Reaction and Consequences
The case was decided by the GDC’s Professional Conduct Committee at a hearing in November 2022 and published through the regulator’s channels; MedicWatch records the outcome as erasure from the dental register following the Professional Conduct Committee decision, with the committee directing that his name be struck off the register . The determination shows the panel weighed his 2016 warning — his second appearance before a GDC committee — against the seriousness of the new findings. No public statement from Abbasi welcoming or contesting the outcome appears in the published determination, which records the case proceeding to a sanction decision on the basis of the proved findings .
Current Status
Abbasi was erased from the dentists register, with the committee also directing an immediate suspension so that he could not practise during the 28-day appeal window, on the basis that permitting him to practise before the erasure took effect would be inappropriate. Should he have appealed, the immediate suspension would have remained in force until the appeal was resolved. MedicWatch’s determination page carries the erasure outcome with a hearing dated November 2022, and the underlying determination records the sanction reasoning in full . He remains recorded there as struck off the register .
Impact on Their Career/Life
Erasure ends a UK dental career: Abbasi cannot lawfully practise as a dentist in the UK, and his name removal follows an earlier warning that signalled the regulator was already monitoring his standards. The witness-intimidation finding is the sort of conduct regulators treat as seriously aggravating, making any future restoration application an uphill task. The determination records that the immediate suspension was considered necessary for public protection and public confidence in the profession .