N.S. dentist admits he let untrained person extract tooth from sedated patient

The Newfoundland and Labrador Dental Board says Dr. Louis Bourget made the admission in a statement submitted before a disciplinary hearing in November

CITYnews halifax \ Canadian Press

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1. JOHN’S, N.L. — A Nova Scotia-based dentist with practices across Atlantic Canada has admitted he allowed an unauthorized person to extract a tooth from a sedated patient’s mouth while someone else filmed.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Dental Board says Dr. Louis Bourget made the admission in a statement submitted before a disciplinary hearing in November 2021.

A notice on the board’s website says Bourget also agreed he did not obtain consent of the patient, Blair Harris, to have someone else perform the procedure.

Harris filed a lawsuit in December 2020 in which he says he was an inmate at a Newfoundland jail when Bourget allegedly let a correctional officer perform a dental procedure on him while another guard filmed.

The RCMP said on Feb. 5, 2021, that Bourget and two correctional officers, Roy Goodyear and Ronald McDonald, had been charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon in relation to the alleged incident at the jail.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s dental board says its tribunal ruled Dec. 9, 2021, that Bourget’s licence would be suspended for six months and that he’d have to pay a $3,000 fine as well as $22,500 to cover part of the cost of the investigation and hearing.

The Canadian Press