A DENTIST from Pinner who tried to seduce a married patient after her husband was left brain damaged has been struck off in a bid to “protect the public”.

Milan Shah, of Rickmansworth Road, told the mum-of-five: “You are not getting any loving from your husband and I am not from my wife, maybe we can help each other out”.

Shah, who practised at Alexander House Dental Practice, in St Albans, pestered her with mobile phone calls at weekends over a two year period after her husband suffered permanent brain damage in a severe asthma attack, which left him in a vegetative state.

A panel sitting at the General Dental Council also heard he wrongly told the woman treatment she needed was not available on the NHS.

In April 2009 he offered to reduce the cost if the woman, known as patient A, would “spend some time with him”.

Ordering Shah be struck off the panel chair Mary Harley told him: “Your conduct was a serious breach of the trust that Patient A had placed in you as a dental professional.

“That she was a patient in an especially vulnerable situation is an aggravating feature of your conduct.

“The committee is in no doubt that, taken as a whole, your conduct fell far short of the standards expected of a dental professional and amounted to misconduct.

“When faced with the allegations in the course of this hearing you have alleged that Patient A has fabricated her account and in putting this case you have not told the truth to this committee.

“You have shown no remorse or insight.”

Ms Harley said a permanent striking off order was necessary to protect the public and maintain confidence in the profession.

The hearing was told how Shah, whose wife is “still standing by him”, apparently took patient A's mobile number from files at the surgery and called her only a weekly basis at weekends after her husband suffered the accident.

When she confronted him at the surgery to ask him to stop, he said: “You are not getting any loving from your husband and I am not from my wife, maybe we can help each other out”.

Giving evidence patient A had told the hearing she was 'shocked' at the comment, after she had told him to stop phoning her.

She complained after discovering a root canal treatment costing £350, which Shah said was only available privately, could have been done on the NHS for around £45.

Shah of Rickmansworth Road, Pinner, had also denied telling patient A that the treatment she needed was not available on the NHS, though he admitted failing to get patient A's informed consent and a signed consent for the private treatment.

The dentist also admitted that he tried to get her to withdraw her complaint to the NHS trust and that was inappropriate.

The panel found that he had called her “repeatedly” and “made comments to her which amount to a sexual advance”.

It also found that he was misleading and dishonest when he told her a root canal was not available on the NHS, and that he failed to get her informed consent for the procedure.

The charges dated from between 1 April 2007 and 30 April 2009.