UK’s General Dental Council has allowed a dentist to continue to practice though he had suggested mouthwash for oral cancer and the patient died. The patients widow cries foul.

However Dr.Nalin Ramniklal Dhamecha will have to attend a minimum of 10 hours of courses on identifying potentially malignant lesions.

He will also be required to keep a log book on the management of patients with oral problems such as lesions for the next 12 months, the Council panel ruled.

The dentist told Robin Read, 44, back in May 2006 there was 'nothing untoward' with the ulcer on his tongue but the plumber only had a year to live.

Mrs Read said: 'If he had been referred to a specialist and diagnosed, Robin's chances would have been so much greater.'

'It may have been that the cancer would have come back after treatment but at least he would have had a longer life. That's why this is not fair.'

GDC said that Dhamecha's failure to spot the sore did not contribute to Read's death.

Panel Chair Dr John Gibson told the dentist even if he had detected the lesion on the tongue, the outcome would have been no different.

Read, who has a teenage daughter, first consulted Dhamecha at the Aberdeen House Dental Practice in Surrey, on two occasions.

The plumber had been visiting the surgery near his home since he was a child and began seeing Dhamecha when the previous dentist retired.