A dentist has denied groping a teenage patient whilst she was partially sedated in his dentist's chair.

Dr Muzzafar Zaman told the jury of his love of dentistry and described himself as a "fanatic" as he rejected claims that he had sexually assaulted the girl, who is now 17 but was 16 at the time of the alleged incident in February last year.

The trial at Bradford Crown Court has been told how Zaman, a married father-of-three, is alleged to have touched the girl's breasts after giving her gas and air before then putting his arm around her and cuddling her after she got out of the chair.

"Did you sexually assault her?" his barrister Linda Strudwick asked.

"No I did not," Zaman replied.

"Did you at any stage intentionally touch her chest or breasts?"

"Never," Zaman said.

Miss Strudwick described the blonde-haired and blue-eyed complainant as an "attractive 17-year-old girl" and asked: "Did you perceive her as that?"

"No, I just saw her as one of my many thousands of patients which I have seen and that's all," he said.

Zaman, 40, told the jury that he had been happily married for 11 years and described how patients had travelled from all over the world to be treated by him, adding that he was especially interested in the treatment of nervous and anxious patients.

He said: "Dentistry is a big part of my life and I absolutely love dentistry. I'm fanatical about it."

Zaman, who has pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual assault, referred himself to the General Dental Council after the girl had made her complaint and agreed with them that he should not work as a dentist until the outcome of the trial.

He added: "I have thought about this incident every single day and every hour of the day since the allegation was made.

"I can put my hand on my heart and say there's some things which I know that did happen and did not happen. However, there's some other things I'm just not sure about."

The jury have been told by prosecutor Richard Newbury that Zaman changed his appointment with the young complainant, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, to a time when the surgery on High Street in Brighouse would be closed so that they would be alone together.

He is then alleged to have given her gas and air and as she was partially sedated rubbed his hand across her breasts.

Zaman, of Central Park, Saville Park, Halifax has admitted that the broke the guidelines concerning gas and air, but denies that he touched the girl in a sexual way.

He told police that the only reason they were alone in his surgery was because his secretary had gone home ill.

Zaman is expected to continue giving his evidence today.

The case continues.