Nikol Tomanova Tomanova
Introduction
Nikol Tomanova Tomanova is a dental nurse whom a GDC Professional Conduct Committee erased from the register in March 2023 after finding she had declared A-Level grades she was never awarded — Biology at grade A, Chemistry at grade B and Mathematics at grade B — and submitted false certificates in support of an application to a university dental hygienist degree programme. She did not attend the hearing and had not engaged with the regulator since September 2022, and the committee found the dishonesty charges proved .
Background Information
The case arose from Tomanova’s application to the joint Eastman Dental Hospital and London South Bank University BSc Dental Hygienist programme. To support the application she declared the three A-Level awards and provided a qualification certificate. The GDC’s case was that she knew she had not been awarded those grades, that the certificate she supplied was false, and that she compounded the dishonesty with a fabricated explanation when questions arose about it. The committee heard witness statements from the deputy director for dental hygiene and therapy at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, a compliance manager at the exam board OCR, and the admissions manager at LSBU .
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
The charged conduct had three layers. First, the declaration: Tomanova stated on her application that she held the three A-Level grades. Second, the certificate: in support of the application she provided an A-Level certificate that was false. Third, the cover story: when the spelling on that certificate was queried, she claimed a spelling error had affected every certificate issued to her exam cohort, and then produced a further certificate that did not contain the spelling error. The committee found each of these strands misleading and dishonest, on the basis that she knew the certificates she provided were false .
Tomanova was neither present nor represented at the hearing. The committee was satisfied the GDC had served notice properly and noted the hearing had already been postponed once before. The last contact the regulator had received from her was in September 2022, ahead of the earlier listing. Because she had also attended an Interim Orders Committee hearing in June 2021, the panel concluded she understood what attendance would involve, and it proceeded in her absence in the public interest .
In finding the dishonesty proved, the committee relied on the witness statements from the three institutional witnesses and on Tomanova’s own undated written observations to case examiners, alongside the transcript of the 2021 interim hearing. The fabrication of a cohort-wide spelling error to explain away an anomaly on the certificate was treated as a deliberate, constructed lie rather than a lapse .
Public Reaction and Consequences
The published record shows a straightforward regulatory outcome: all charged dishonesty found proved, impairment by reason of misconduct, and a direction of erasure. MedicWatch’s determination page records the Professional Conduct Committee decision directing erasure from the dental register following the hearing that began in February 2023 and concluded in March 2023 . No mitigation or insight was available to the panel given her total non-engagement, and the determination records none.
Current Status
Tomanova was erased from the register under the title of dental nurse, with an immediate suspension order taking effect on service of the decision; her name would be erased 28 days later unless she appealed, and any appeal would have left the immediate suspension in force. MedicWatch lists her among dental professionals struck off in 2023 and records her status as erased . The determination page carries no appeal outcome .
Impact on Their Career/Life
The fraud closed off the university route she was trying to open: the application that carried the false certificates was to a BSc programme that would have advanced her career beyond dental nursing. Instead, the dishonesty findings removed her from even that role. A panel finding that a registrant fabricated documents and a cover story, compounded by complete non-engagement with the process, leaves no realistic path to restoration in the published record’s terms .