A DENTIST in north Hampshire left patients in agony when he pulled teeth and gave treatment without anaesthetic.

Alexandru Varga’s victims included a six-year-old child and a woman he ignored when she begged for painkillers.

The dentist, who was practising at the ADP Dental Practice, in Franklin Avenue, Tadley, also botched his records and failed to explain treatment to four patients or provide one of them with protective clothing or glasses.

At a disciplinary hearing in London, David Bradly, representing the dentists’ professional body, the General Dental Council, said Varga’s misconduct involved mistreating six patients over a two-month period.

Varga saw the first patient days after joining the practice, the tribunal heard.

The woman, known as Patient One, saw him on May 22, 2008, to have one of her teeth out. Before starting the treatment he did not explain the treatment nor provide proper pain relief.

Less than a month later Varga treated Patient Two - but again forgot to mention the use of anaesthetic as well as failing to take a radiograph or provide protective gear. Mr Bradly said: "'During the course of the treatment he did not pay any regard to Patient Two when she informed him she was in pain.

"He didn't pay any regard to her request for pain relief." Parents of a six-year-old, known as Patient Three, complained when Varga failed to give a treatment plan or tell them that no local aesthetic would be used on the child.

Mr Bradly said this led to an argument between Varga and his dental nurse.It emerged that practice bosses only began checking Varga's records weeks into his contract. They found Patient One was given treatment without her consent while Patients Two and Three were given no treatment plans. Two other patients' records were also found to be substandard. Tribunal chairman Martyn Green said breaches of standards were "numerous, repeated and wide-ranging" and Varga should be suspended from practising as a dentist for a year. He said: "Mr Varga displayed fundamental deficiencies in his ability to communicate effectively and deal appropriately with his patients. "His failure to keep proper records and his general standard of treatment indicate issues which need attention and improvement." The GDC committee suspended Mr Varga from the dentists' register for 12 months. Varga, a Romanian, who qualified in 1999 from the university of Cluj Napoca, in north-west Romania, did not attend the three-day hearing and neither admitted nor denied the charges.The dentist is believed to have returned to Romania after leaving the Tadley practice in July 2008.

Associated Dental Practices, who own the practice, declined comment on the case.