A dentist who wrote fake prescriptions to support his own drug habit has been suspended from practising. Jeremy Isaac, 67, was sentenced to a suspended jail term in 2023 for fraud, but the dental regulator did not suspend him until May this year.
Isaac, who practised dentistry at Live Life Smiling in Taibach, Port Talbot, is currently running a different business – the Wish Skin Clinic, which offers cosmetic fillers and laser wrinkle treatments from a site on the same street, Commercial Road.
Fraud details
The General Dental Council (GDC) learned of the fraud investigation in 2022, yet Isaac was allowed to continue practising dentistry for years afterwards, albeit under some restrictions. It was not until May this year that a misconduct panel imposed a 12-month suspension.
As reported following his 2023 court case, Isaac used the names of his patients, staff, and his own partner to illegally obtain diazepam, a Class C anxiety drug. His offending came to light following a routine review of NHS controlled drug prescriptions, during which it emerged that Isaac – who earned around £180,000 a year – had prescribed 60% of all the oral diazepam dispensed by dentists across Neath Port Talbot over the previous eight years.
A counter-fraud expert found Isaac had written a total of 35 bogus prescriptions in the names of 13 individuals across six years. Those people were unaware of the fraud, which saw 579 diazepam tablets illegally obtained from the NHS with a total value of £103.
Court proceedings
Isaac's barrister, Phillipa Ellis, said he had been suffering with anxiety, which had exacerbated his irritable bowel syndrome, and he had been "too embarrassed" to go to his GP to ask for help. She said the anxiety stemmed from the acrimonious end of a relationship and trying to keep his businesses going during Covid.
Judge Paul Thomas KC told Isaac he was "singularly unimpressed" by the explanation as to why he had not simply gone to his GP to get help, adding: "This conviction is clearly a considerable fall from grace... Your reputation is unlikely to ever recover from what has happened."
Following a guilty plea to fraud, Isaac, from Porthcawl, was sentenced to eight months in jail suspended for 12 months and given a £10,000 fine. There was then an unexplained three-year delay before the GDC brought Isaac before a misconduct panel. During the hearing, Isaac's lawyer John Cameron said his client had continued running the dental clinic over the past four years "without incident".
Panel findings
The panel heard Isaac qualified as a dentist in 1982 with only one other instance of misconduct on his record. This related to a 2007 investigation into him misusing the title "smile specialist", which is not a recognised professional title. On that occasion, Isaac was issued a warning.
The panel heard a drug test in 2024 had shown Isaac was no longer using diazepam. The dentist told the panel he was "relieved" his misconduct had been exposed. He said he had been doing "a lot of public speaking" at the time of his offending, which brought him "great anxiety", and he would take diazepam the night before speeches as a "coping mechanism".
Isaac said he had been able to speak with 10 out of the 11 patients whose names he had used for the fake prescriptions. Two of them had provided character testimonials for him, the hearing was told. The dentist added he had "a network and strategies to prevent any repetition" and vowed he "100% will never be going through this again".
The panel took into account that the conduct was repeated over a significant period of time, but also noted his insights into his own actions and the absence of further issues in the four years since. They imposed a 12-month suspension which will be reviewed in a further hearing once it expires.
Current business
Isaac told us he hopes to return to practising dentistry when his suspension expires. Asked why he felt it was appropriate for him to continue running his cosmetic clinic, he replied: "[The Wish Skin Clinic] employs several specialist staff and a support team. I set up the clinic 10 years ago, and it has operated successfully and received many excellent reviews. Together with my specialist colleagues I undertake treatments which are administered to the highest standards and in accordance with all applicable regulations and I have an MSc in aesthetic medicine."
The General Dental Council does not regulate aesthetic treatment. However, the Health Inspectorate Wales, which is the independent regulator and inspectorate of healthcare in Wales, has inspected the clinic on three occasions and has found no issues with patient treatment, care, or safety.
Isaac added: "I take full responsibility for what happened and, more importantly, for the impact that it has had on others. I fully respect the decision of the General Dental Council, have actively addressed the problems which led to its decision, and hope to return to practice as a dentist when the suspension has expired. In the interim I intend to continue my role at the Wish Skin Clinic, which is not prohibited by the suspension. The suspension was not imposed based on any finding that it was necessary to protect patients from concerns about the standard of care and treatment that I provided. In any event I would not undertake any role or treatment unless I was completely satisfied that the treatment provided by me and my colleagues was administered in accordance with the highest standards."
