Dentist denies sex offences inolving patients 

Source:

A Canterbury dentist got women patients to touch him sexually while they were under sedation, a disciplinary tribunal was told on Monday.

The dentist, whose name is suppressed, has denied three charges of professional misconduct over alleged incidents in 1984, 1989 and 2001, The Press reported.

He is also accused of administering higher than the recommended maximum dose of sedative to the three women.

In each case, he allegedly caused the women to touch his penis while they were sedated.

The dentist was acquitted in 2002 after a court trial prompted by the 2001 incident.

One of the women told the Dentists Disciplinary Tribunal in Christchurch on Mondau of a visit to the dentist in 1989 to have to have wisdom teeth removed.

She said she came around from sedation to find her hand touching his penis.

The woman said she was unsure of what had happened at the time, but came forward after reading about the 2001 case in The Press.

She rejected suggestions she could have been hallucinating under the influence of the sedative.

"I believed it happened now. I know I was unsure then, but I am 100% now that that was what I was touching. That is why I would not call it a hallucination," she says.

The hearing continues on Tuesday.