A dentist is stepping up his fight against the Bermuda Dental Board, calling its members a ?bunch of thugs and wahoos? over the suspension of a hygienist who no longer works for him.

Keri Payne, a Canadian, was suspended in March, 2004, when two patients questioned whether she had been conducting procedures she was not licensed for. Dr. James Fay, of the Paget Dental Group, is now taking the Board and the Attorney General to court over Mrs. Payne?s suspension.

Last September, Governor Sir John Vereker overruled the Board?s decision and granted Dr. Fay?s appeal, prompting the writ against the Board.

?They are a bunch of thugs,? Dr. Fay said.

?Our point is that the Board brought the charges, had an inquiry, made the judgment and gave the penalty,? he said. ?It?s all from the same bunch of wahoos.?

He said he hoped his lawyer David Kessaram could get a Supreme Court judgment that what the Board did was illegal.

?Once we get that I would try to get them to apologise,? he said.

Dr. Fay said Mrs. Payne has not worked in Bermuda since her suspension and returned home to Canada. Board chairman Dr. Richard Cann declined to comment.

Dr. Fay criticised the Board last year when it prevented Dr. Ian Vogen, who worked out of his practice, from treating patients in Bermuda.

Immigration later reversed the decision and allowed Dr. Vogen to work on the Island.