The amount of complaints made about dentists could be reduced by around 40% if they and their patients communicated more clearly with each other, the Dental Complaints Resolution Service (DCRS) has said.

It has published its second annual report, which provides details about the 130 complaints it dealt with last year.

The DCRS is a voluntary service that offers an independent mediator service to patients who wish to make a complaint about their dentist. It is free of charge and while it operates independently of the Irish Dental Association, it does have the association's support.

According to its 2013 Annual Report, the service received over 1,200 letters and emails and over 250 phone calls last year, and dealt with a total of 130 complaints. Twenty-eight of these complaints were resolved during the year and 16 of the other 102 cases have since been resolved or are almost resolved.

The majority of complaints made in 2013 related to fees, although a large number of complaints were also made about the standard of work received. Almost one-third of complaints related to dentists failing to communicate properly with their patient.

"Communication failures remain the main cause of disputes. If the patient and dentist communicated clearly with each other about an issue it would reduce the amount of complaints made by about 40%. Dentists need to keep patients informed of the treatment plan and to deal with complaints promptly," commented DCRS facilitator, Michael Kilcoyne.

Some of the most difficult cases seen by the DCRS concerned crowns, bridges and veneers and of the 28 cases resolved in 2013, some of these results involved an apology by the dentist, a full refund, or further work carried out at no extra cost.

The report highlighted that in many cases, a patient will come back to a dentist with a problems, but the dentist will not listen to them. It advises dentists to deal with complaints ‘immediately' as the issue ‘is not going to go away'.

It is also essential that the patient is kept fully informed of their treatment plan and the costs this will incur.

Meanwhile, Mr Kilcoyne also expressed concern about companies that fit out a premises as a dental practice and then let it out to dentists.

"There certainly needs to be tighter regulation of these kinds of businesses and they need to be liable in some way if the practicing dentist carries out work of a sub-standard nature and then vacates the premises. In these circumstances, the patient has very little comeback" he pointed out.

For more information on the DCRS, click here