James Bond villain supplier locked in legal battle

The GDC is nothing to mess with. They are the most serious, most unbiased and heavy handed dental organization in the world. Few people know of them, but many people reap the benefits of their labor. The GDC (or General Dental Council) is the UK body of dentists that governs the laws, regulations and health and safety standards that must be met by any persons in the UK who wishes to perform dentistry there. They are a regulatory body, and they take their job extremely seriously, and with good reason; many dentists dream of setting up shop in London, Manchester, Leeds or one of the other more populous British cities, and they need to be up to par to serve the British public. Hence the strict regulations. Currently, they are prosecuting the man who made the teeth for the James Bond character “Jaws”, played by Richard Kiel.

The lawsuit

Luis Fairman is the man behind the Precision Dental company, a company that sells and makes dental prostheses. Their company mostly supplies materials like plastics or precious metals and dental alloys to the dental industry at large. The mistake he made was getting on screen for a commercial and saying he was a dental technician. The GDC takes these things very seriously, and commented on the fact that he was not registered with them, and also fined him for 500 pounds, as well as 50 pounds in victim surcharge, and a 500 pound fee on top of that to them as well.

Perspective

Did the GDC do well in doing this? Did they overreact? That, i am afraid, is a matter of opinion. Frankly, they had the right to do what they did, and they went ahead and did it. After all, this man was falsely advertising himself as a dental technician, which he was not, and he was not registered as a dental technician with the GDC either, making what he was doing a criminal offence. Whether or not he was harming anyone, or whether or not the offense he committed warranted a fine of 1050 pounds altogether ( a very, very steep number, even for a rich man) is a different issue. The man was a professional and not some charlatan trying to establish himself, he has been supplying dental gera and working with them for decades, so it can be argued that no harm was done. Still, he committed a crime and was fined for it. It was certainly legal, but whether or not it was just I leave in the capable hands of the reader. What do you think? Is legislation out of control? Leave us a comment and tell us why!

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