The Singapore Dental Council fined a dentist and suspended an oral health therapist for allowing the latter to perform dental procedures on a patient without proper supervision.

The council said on Thursday in a press release that it had held a disciplinary committee inquiry against dentist Dr Jimmy Yap Eng Huat and oral health therapist Ms Lim Jingyi of Nam Fung Dental Surgery in Geylang.

They each faced one charge each of professional misconduct under the Dental Registration Act, when Ms Lim performed dental procedures on a patient on July 28, 2011 without the supervision of Dr Yap, as required under the Act. Ms Lim pleaded guilty and was censured and suspended for two years starting from Dec 25 last year.

The council's disciplinary committee also noted that Dr Yap did not put in place any protocol to prevent Ms Lim from performing dental procedures in his absence. He was fined $10,000, censured for the lapse, told to write a letter of undertaking not to repeat the same offence and made to pay the proceedings' legal costs.