{"id":372519,"date":"2026-04-10T06:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/372519\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:14:10","slug":"auckland-dentist-censured-after-self-prescribing-fentanyl-to-feed-his-growing-habit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/372519\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland dentist censured after self-prescribing fentanyl to feed his growing habit"},"content":{"rendered":"

First published on \"NZ<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\nThe tribunal found the dentist had put his patients at risk through his drug use.
\nPhoto: 123rf.com\n<\/p>\n

Warning: This story mentions intravenous drug use.<\/p>\n

Despite injecting high doses of fentanyl every day after work, a dentist denies being under the influence while treating patients.<\/p>\n

The dentist, whose name is permanently suppressed, was before the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal in Auckland, facing a charge of professional misconduct.<\/p>\n

He admitted to using his dental supply orders to access the pharmaceutical-grade opioid for personal use from June 2022 to June 2023.<\/p>\n

His habit and tolerance rapidly increased, but he claimed he only took the drug after work, stopping before midnight, so it wouldn’t affect his behaviour the next day.<\/p>\n

He denied putting his patients at risk by being under the influence of or withdrawing from the drug during their treatment.<\/p>\n

” reject putting the patients at risk,” he told the tribunal. “[I was] not working under the material influence of fentanyl.”<\/p>\n

A ‘foolish’ decision<\/p>\n

In June 2022, because of a “number of stresses” in his life, the dentist made the “foolish” decision to try fentanyl.<\/p>\n

“To take the edge off,” he said. “I found that fentanyl gave me the feeling of euphoria, relaxation and a chilled feeling.”<\/p>\n

The agreed facts said he used his “practitioner’s supply orders” to source fentanyl from six pharmacies in Auckland about 40 times over the following year.<\/p>\n

He also “borrowed” from stock at one of his workplaces and ordered fentanyl from a pharmaceutical wholesaler.<\/p>\n

The dentist worked at clinics across Auckland, performing complex oral surgery procedures.<\/p>\n

He would use his own equipment meant for the intravenous sedation of his patients, such as a cannula, to give himself increasingly higher doses of the drug.<\/p>\n

His habit quickly went from lower doses to higher ones of 5000mcg per use.<\/p>\n

On 8 June, 2023, he was refused a supply from a Countdown pharmacy, as staff there had become suspicious of his orders.<\/p>\n

In the days after, he stopped using fentanyl, engaged Community Alcohol and Drugs Services, and came clean to his then-partner and co-workers.<\/p>\n

He also experienced severe withdrawal symptoms, including muscle aches and fever.<\/p>\n

Alerted by the Countdown pharmacy staff, the Dental Council sent the man a letter, suspending him from practising, until he had seen a psychiatrist.<\/p>\n

He consulted a psychiatrist and the suspension was lifted on 31 July, 2023.<\/p>\n

After this, he undertook “stringent” drug testing ordered by the council, up to February this year, with no “adverse” results, the dentist said.<\/p>\n

“I’m sure this matter is behind me now.”<\/p>\n

Severe substance abuse disorder<\/p>\n

The Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) of the Dental Council called one witness to the tribunal – psychiatrist and addiction specialist Dr Samuel McBride.<\/p>\n

McBride calculated from the agreed facts that the dentist had ordered 5780ml of fentanyl for himself from pharmacists in his year of use.<\/p>\n

Because of the increasing doses and the climbing number of pharmacy visits, he believed the dentist suffered from a severe substance abuse disorder at the time.<\/p>\n

This meant the dentist’s intoxication, withdrawal and addiction to the drug would have had serious physical, emotional and cognitive effects that would have affected his work.<\/p>\n

Possible effects included a loss of concentration, slowed movements or, at worst, losing consciousness “during procedures”, McBride said.<\/p>\n

Withdrawal from the dentist’s heavy use of the opioid could cause tremors, agitation and sweating, he said.<\/p>\n

A tremor, in particular, could impair the “fine motor skills” and concentration required to perform dental procedures.<\/p>\n

Despite this, when the dentist gave his evidence, he said, until he quit “cold turkey”, he never experienced withdrawal symptoms, apart from a few mild instances of “restless legs”.<\/p>\n

Nobody noticed a change<\/p>\n

The dentist’s lawyer, Harry Waalkens, KC, put it to McBride that none of the dentist’s co-workers or partner noticed a change or decline in his behaviour.<\/p>\n

McBride said the dentist not experiencing such withdrawals made him suspect the man was taking fentanyl more often than just after work.<\/p>\n

Waalkens also pointed out none of the dentist’s patients had complained nor was there evidence he had caused any harm to them during his addiction period.<\/p>\n

McBride used an analogy, saying regardless of whether a drink-driver has driven 10 times drunk without causing an accident, it’s still dangerous.<\/p>\n

The charge against the dentist was whether he put his patients “at risk” of harm, not caused harm directly, McBride reminded Waalkens.<\/p>\n

‘Caught up in a haze’<\/p>\n

After the dentist’s fentanyl use was discovered, he told a doctor he was “caught up in a haze” of his addiction.<\/p>\n

The man told the tribunal that he meant he was caught up in his addiction and not thinking about the consequences.<\/p>\n

During his cross-examination, PCC lawyer Hayden Wilson zeroed in on the phrase, saying not thinking about the consequences was the same as putting patients at risk.<\/p>\n

“You didn’t think about whether it was good for your patients either, did you?” Wilson asked.<\/p>\n

“In hindsight, no,” the dentist replied, but he would still not agree that he put his patients at risk.<\/p>\n

The verdict<\/p>\n

Chaired by lawyer Truc Tran, the panel established the particulars of the charge the dentist had admitted to.<\/p>\n

They also found he had put patients at risk by consuming fentanyl after hours.<\/p>\n

There was no evidence the dentist used the drug during clinical hours, Tran said. This amounted to malpractice, negligence and was likely to discredit the profession.<\/p>\n

It was also serious enough to warrant a penalty, Tran said.<\/p>\n

The penalty<\/p>\n

The dentist was censured, ordered to pay a $6000 fine, and 35 percent of the PCC and tribunal’s costs.<\/p>\n

The panel wanted to support the man’s further rehabilitation with two years of “health monitoring”.<\/p>\n

Conditions of the monitoring included not being allowed to prescribe controlled drugs, perform IV sedation or self-prescribe.<\/p>\n

For two years, he must tell any future employers or business partners of the tribunal’s decision and orders.<\/p>\n

For reasons that couldn’t be disclosed, the panel granted the dentist permanent name suppression.<\/p>\n

* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First published on The tribunal found the dentist had put his patients at risk through his drug use.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-372519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}