A case against an Essex-based dental technician has been dropped flowing a lack of evidence.
Jon Fribbins, who runs the Hockley Dental Lab in Essex which makes and fits dentures, was brought before the General Dental Council (GDC) accused of practising without the appropriate registration.
But the prosecution against the 34-year-old was dropped at a hearing yesterday after no evidence was offered against him to the GDC.
In 2006 the GDC made it a criminal offence for denture makers to provide denture care and advice directly to patients unless they had completed an expensive training course .
But despite not being on the course, Mr Fribbins claimed that he employed a dentist to fit all dentures that he produced.
"The council has wanted to prosecute me for two years," Mr Fribbins said after the hearing.
"It (the GDC) got the law changed, but there was no way to complete the course in the UK ."
"I registered to complete a course, but it was cancelled before it began. The only other place to complete the course was in Canada but that has now finished."
Mr Fribbins added that he still wishes to undertake the course but argued that with costs starting from £80,000 "it simply isn’t possible to do it in this country".
More than 200 of Mr Fribbins’s clients gave their support to the denture maker after the law was changed by writing to Rayleigh MP Mark Francois.
