Dr Mershad Otifeh

AN NHS dentist who has spent more than two decades fixing teeth in Highbury has said he will stay put until the bailiffs come.

Dr Mershad Otifeh has run Highbury Dental Practice in Hamilton Park since 2002, but is now facing closure after the landlord said he would not extend the lease.

There has been an ongoing dispute regarding the payment for repairs between Dr Otifeh, the landlord, and the other tenants in the building.

As the only NHS practice in N5, closure of his clinic means that 11,000 people in the area could be left without access to lower-cost dental healthcare in their postcode.

Dr Otifeh said if he closed his patients would have “lots of problems”.

He told the Tribune: “They will have either to pay for a private dentist, or they will have to travel somewhere else, or they won’t get treatment and wait until they have to have aggressive treatment such as extraction. That’s the only option, you have to pull the teeth out, like in a third world country. That is the disadvantage of not having the NHS.”

The dentist also runs a private clinic in Belsize Park, but says that he likes to treat “average people”, as well as the celebrities who can afford to pay privately.

“The normal people, like myself, when treatment is £900 that is more than a mortgage,” he said.

“I don’t want people to suffer. I understand how difficult that is. I have seen two or three generations of patients.”

One of Dr Otifeh’s patients, Nicola Baird, said that Dr Otifeh’s clinic was “the most important service in Highbury”, adding: “Dr Otifeh is so helpful and has dealt with my family’s less than perfect teeth at all stages. In contrast, private dental work is shockingly expensive.”

The potential closure of Dr Otifeh’s clinic comes as more and more people struggle to access NHS dental appointments in the borough.

Laura Saksena, CEO of Healthwatch Islington, said access to NHS dentistry remains a “significant concern locally”, adding: “When services are lost in a neighbourhood it can make it even harder for residents – especially those on lower incomes or without the ability to travel – to get the care they need. We would encourage commissioners and providers to work together to ensure local people can continue to access NHS dental services.”

Dr Otifeh said he had signed a 20-year lease in 2005, but was shocked when his landlord said he did not want to re-open negotiations last year.

The dentist says this has left him “stuck”.

It would cost more than £60,000 to move the equipment to a new premises, and even then his NHS contract means he is only allowed to operate in N5.

“I want to resist eviction, based on providing the service for the area,” he said.

“I want to continue to work as a dentist. My patients are my witness, I’m popular, but these days, these things don’t matter. What matters is money.”

Green Highbury councillor Benali Hamdache said: “Highbury needs a dentist. I’m deeply concerned at the prospect of losing such a valuable local service I’ve contacted the NHS and the council to encourage everyone to pull together and to find a solution.”

The dentist said he would do everything he could to resist being forced out, and is currently waiting to see if the case is taken to court.

He says he was told that the landlord wanted the building back for re-development, but the Tribune also understands that disagreements over payment for repairs has contributed to the decision not to renew the lease.

Rizwan Jamal, the landlord for Hamilton Park, said that Dr Otifeh has been a “problem tenant” and that they want “a change”.

The landlords claimed that the dentist had not paid his share of the repair work, and had “never been cooperative” – a claim which was supported by other tenants in the building.

On the subject of redevelopment, Mr Jamal said: “First we need to get rid of him, then we’ll look at what to do with the property. We might consider turning it into flats, we might consider letting it to another dentist.”