A DENTAL nurse was groped by a married patient during a tooth extraction.

The 22-year-old woman had her buttocks grabbed by Gary Campbell, 49, at the practice in the Southside of Glasgow on April 1 this year.

The nurse - then a trainee - was also held by the top and blown kisses by the dad-of-two.

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He was convicted at Glasgow Sheriff Court to sexual assault.

The court heard from the victim who said that Campbell - a grandad - was a new patient.

He told the technician and the victim that he had been experiencing toothache after eating easter eggs.

Campbell lay down on the dental chair for the tooth extraction and was re-assured by the victim.

She said: “Comments were being made and I always say my hands are free if you want to hold on.

“This is due to people being anxious or scared of the dentist.”

The woman stated she stood beside Campbell while holding the aspirator suction device as the procedure took place.

Prosecutor Gemma Barclay asked what happened next.

She replied: “The patient reached round and grabbed my bum.

“I saw the arm move but I didn’t expect it to go where it was going to go.”

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Miss Barclay asked if it was “forceful” and the witness stated: “It was enough to feel through my scrubs and I had a pair of leggings on.

“He was pulling on my scruff.”

The woman was asked how she felt about being grabbed.

She replied: “I was in shock, I didn’t say anything, it was the technician that spoke up.”

The woman stated the procedure continued but Campbell then grabbed her on the top.

After the procedure, the woman stated Campbell made several comments towards her.

She stated: “He said that I was a professional hand holder, you are fantastic.

“He mentioned that he would want me on the room the next time he came back.

“He wanted me to be there and he blew kisses on his way out the door.”

The woman stated that Campbell did not have the money to pay for the treatment at the time.

She added that the technician waved any fee and asked him to leave.

Stephen Bentley, defending, put it to the woman if it was possible Campbell was putting his hand out to grab on to something because he was in pain.

The witness replied: “He may well have been, but there is a hand rest on the chair and a spittoon right beside it.

“You would have to put your hand round the spittoon where I was standing.

“It’s not the case of up and over, especially when lying backwards.”

Campbell, a self-employed joiner, told the court in evidence that he didn't blow kisses as he was wearing a mask.

He was asked by Mr Bentley if he sexually assaulted the woman.

Campbell replied: "No."

Campbell was then asked if he grabbed the woman.

He replied: "No, only by the hand."

Sheriff Iain McMillan praised the victim's evidence when giving his verdict stating it was given in an "articulate manner and not exaggerated."

Campbell, of the city's Govan, was bailed and put on the sex offenders register meantime pending background reports.