A FORMER nurse whose dentist prescribed her a potentially-lethal drug overdose has spoken of her shock after he was suspended from duty again.

Helen Woodyard, of Mersea Road, Colchester, was unconscious for four hours after Dr Sayed Hossain Faghany told her to take ten times too much diazepam in preparation for an appointment.

Dr Faghany was let off with a reprimand by the General Dental Council and returned to work at Mersea Road Dental Surgery.

Now he has been ordered to stop practising for 18 months while fresh claims against him are investigated.

Mrs Woodyard, speaking publicly for the first time about her ordeal, said: “I felt after what happened he should have stopped work straight away because it was such a bad mistake. When it came to the hearing, I was very disappointed that no action was taken against him and now we find out he’s suspended again.

“Other patients need to know everything that is going on.”

Dr Faghany gave Mrs Woodyard the diazepam prescription in advance of a procedure to remove bone from her gum, as she was a nervous patient who hated going to the dentist and wanted to be sedated.

It was her birthday on May 6, 2005, when she took the pills an hour before her visit to the surgery, as the dentist had ordered.

That morning, she had taken her regular heavy dose of medication to combat pain she suffers after sustaining spinal injuries in a car crash a few years previously.

Immediately after swallowing the diazepam, she felt unwell and by the time she had walked ten yards to warn husband Paul in his home office, she had collapsed.

Mrs Woodyard was taken to hospital by ambulance and when she finally came round was put on an intravenous drip to help flush the drugs out of her system.

Mr Woodyard, 39, had been planning to take her for a celebration meal at Greek restaurant Bella Pais, in St John’s Street, Colchester, but was instead sitting by her bedside as she chatted “like a five-year-old” in her dazed condition.

Mrs Woodyard said: “The next day when I was feeling a bit better, I broke down and cried. I knew I could have died.

“I used to work as a nurse and I’m not silly – I knew it could have been fatal.”

She now goes to a dentist in Queen Street but insists on having all procedures done under general anaesthetic at Colchester General Hospital.

She added: “It’s annoying to have to be put to sleep each time but after what happened, I just can’t face it any other way.”

Dr Faghany could not be contacted for comment.

Electoral records show his last address in the area was in President Road, Colchester, but residents in the street said the detached bungalow was sold several years ago when his marriage hit problems.

The General Dental Council has refused to reveal the new claims against the dentist, and Mersea Road Dental Surgery and NHS North East Essex have declined to comment.