Removal of the wrong tooth

An investigation carried out by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) considered the risks involved in identifying the correct tooth for extraction in dental practice. While the investigators accepted that the extraction of a tooth is an invasive procedure which can be carried out in a range of different settings, despite national and local efforts to put in place safety standards for invasive procedures, errors continue to occur. When considered along with other forms of invasive procedures, such as injections in the eye, wrong side chest drains and skin lesion removal, wrong tooth extraction had been the most frequently reported type of wrong site surgery over the last five years.