Ashlee Fruet one of patients caught up in David Hurst’s mess after he was reprimanded but allowed to carry on

The dentist at the centre of a scandal involving 132 dumped and desperate patients had been ordered to undertake education by the industry regulator in 2021 following complaints about his work. But David Hurst was allowed to continue to practice as a dentist and operate his Perth clinic, despite the fact that he was banned from practising in his native UK in 2014 after being convicted of fraud there two years earlier. As revealed by The Sunday Times two weeks ago, Dr Hurst siphoned $7.1 million out of his Perth business, rendering it insolvent. Its dire financial predicament only became apparent after he tragically ended his own life in December. The Perth Dental Rooms business in Raine Square has been sold to a new operator by the liquidator, but there wasn’t enough money from the sale to rescue the 132 patients who were partway through or yet to start expensive treatments like implants that they had paid for in full, and now have nowhere to turn. Many are in pain and, having exhausted their savings, they can’t afford to complete the work elsewhere. Of the money missing from Dr Hurst’s company, $2.3m was patients’ prepayments. The newspaper can reveal other alarming details. The turmoil created by Dr Hurst’s actions also highlights systemic abuse of the compassionate release of superannuation provision that allows Australians early access to their retirement funds. It has provided a money-making racket for greedy and unscrupulous dentists. Several of Dr Hurst’s former patients were asked to provide their private myGov usernames and passwords so that applications could be made for early release of superannuation. One patient, Graeme Bamber, had a shock when he next logged into his account. He saw a $60,000 treatment plan had been submitted and not the $46,500 he had been quoted for his top-and-bottom implants. “I was pretty upset,” he said. “When I called I was told I had been ‘sent the wrong quote’. I said, ‘I don’t have the best feeling to go ahead and I’ll look at other companies to do my procedure’. “I was basically sweet-talked by David Hurst . . . I was at the stage where I was actually having pain and was just desperate to move forward . . . and he talked me into going ahead.” Mr Bamber 46, from Sorrento, was halfway through his treatment when Dr Hurst died. He still has temporary implants that weren’t fitted properly requiring him to see another dentist. He has been quoted $30,000 to complete his treatment, which would bring his outlay up to $90,000. And then there’s the $13,000 tax bill that he hadn’t been warned about, for withdrawing his super. “I basically never smiled in photos for nearly 20 years, I was that embarrassed of my teeth and everything, and (these implants) were meant to change my life. And now this has happened,” he said. Ashlee Fruet, 38, no longer has a superannuation account. She emptied her fund to pay Dr Hurst $65,000 for implants. She had all her teeth removed last August. She said her temporary implants were put in about five days later while her gums were still swollen. “I was crying. I was in pain. I said, ‘I’ll just come back when it’s not swollen’. He’s like, ‘no, it can go in now’,” she said. “Ever since then, every time I eat, even if it’s like, bread — something really soft — I get this dull throbbing pain for hours after.” Her permanent implants were meant to go in on January 15. Dr Hurst died five days earlier. Ms Fruet, from Baldivis, said she wouldn’t have gone ahead with the surgery if she had known she was also going to be hit with a $18,200 tax bill. “I would have looked at other alternatives in the meantime,” she said. She said her situation was taking a mental toll. “I’m worried that if these (temporary) set of teeth I have now break I’m up for thousands of dollars to replace them,” she said. “It’s more the stress and the lack of sleep. I’ve been started on antidepressants and hopefully it will help with my anxiety . . . I don’t want to be on the medication for years.” Delphine Davis, 47, still has her temporary implants despite undergoing surgery in February last year. She had to keep going back for new temporary dentures because they kept breaking. She has had to draw on her super fund again to get the funds to complete her work. The ATO would only let her draw another $20,000. “Now I have to look at getting a bank loan, or even selling my car for the rest of the money ($13,000),” Ms Davis, from Northam, said. Single mum Nikki Arthur, who also withdrew from her super, recalled how she was told she needed to pay the full amount of her treatment up front. “I received a few calls saying that the money needed to be transferred ASAP,” Ms Arthur, who is $18,000 out-of-pocket, said. A spokesperson Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), which is responsible for registering and regulating health practitioners, confirmed Dr Hurst had conditions placed on his registration in December 2021. Those conditions were removed in August 2022. The notice required Dr Hurst to “undertake and successfully complete a program of education, approved by AHPRA and including a reflective practice report, in relation to consent for dental treatment and assessment of teeth prior to fixed prosthodontic treatment”. The report had to demonstrate how Dr Hurst had incorporated the lessons learnt into his practice. A patient who complained about Dr Hurst to AHPRA in 2021 said: “Further victims could have been saved from undergoing what I went through in his chair and worse. I am left with an important missing tooth, permanent neuralgia and needing to find $10,000 for an implant.” Dr Hurst, originally from Wales, stole £15,584 (more than $32,000) from the UK’s National Health Service by forging patient declarations while working as a dentist in Bridgend, near Cardiff, in 2006 and 2007. In 2012, he pleaded guilty to 69 counts of theft at Cardiff Crown Court, where he was sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, and given a 200-hour community work order. Lifeline: 13 11 14.