A CROOKED dentist who bullied his receptionists into helping him avoid financial ruin, was yesterday struck off the register.

Richard Cox told staff at his County Durham practice that he would have to turn it into a fast food shop if they did not join him in a nine-month scam.

Cox, 51, was jailed for 18 months last year after being found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the Dentist Payment Board.

John Witt, for the General Dental Council, told how Cox was willing to do anything to keep his business afloat amid growing debts.

Mr Witt said the dentist bought a house in 1993 which he intended to turn into a surgery.

But when costs of developing the property rocketed from £80,000 to £250,000, he was left facing financial ruin.

Mr Witt told how the dentist cajoled his two receptionists at his Newton Aycliffe practice into helping him make a number of false claims, by typing them up and entering them into the computer system.

The barrister said: "Cox gave them a target of income each month and if that amount was not made he threatened that the practice would be made into a fast food shop for quick cash turnaround."

The reason Cox started submitting false claims was that he was struggling financially, Mr Witt added.

"He was in a desperate financial position and would do anything to keep himself afloat and the only way he could do that was to make false claims."

Mr Witt told the committee that from September 1996 to May 1997 Cox made false claims to the Dental Payment Board for at least 17 patients, by taking advantage of a fee exemption system. He also submitted totally fictitious claims in relation to other patients.

Mr Witt told the hearing: "It is impossible to assess the scale of the fraud.

"During the trial, one of the receptionists said she had made hundreds of claims worth thousands of pounds. This was never proven, but the jury believed it to be the tip of a considerable iceberg."

Cox, who practised at Dalton Way, was jailed in November last year at Teesside Crown Court. He had denied conspiracy to defraud insisting his staff were stealing from him.

Striking Cox off for misconduct, committee chairman Trevor Griffiths said: "Submitting false claims which result in the receipt of fees is dishonest and must be regarded as a most serious breach of professional conduct.

"Furthermore, these actions involved an abuse of the trust of patients and you consistently persuaded, cajoled and in part threatened two members of your staff."