Justice has taken up a new dental scandal in Paris. A private practice, a branch of a Brazilian company specializing in the installation of implants, is the subject of an investigation for “intentional injuries”, “illegal exercise of the profession of dental surgeons” and “aggravated deception” has learned franceinfo. A hundred abused patients despair.
After the filing of more than a hundred complaints against a private practice on rue de Rivoli in Paris, the health center of the Paris public prosecutor’s office has just opened a preliminary investigation for “intentional injuries”, “illegal exercise of the profession of dental surgeons”, “aggravated deception” and “usurpation of title”. The Personal Crime Suppression Brigade (BRDP) was entrusted with the task of listing all the complaints, one of which was brought by the National Order of Dental Surgeons (ONCD).
>> INVESTIGATION. Paris: clandestine dentists operated on patients to fit them with prostheses
As Franceinfo revealed in June, a dental practice acting on behalf of the company Swiss Dental Services suddenly closed its doors in March, leaving more than a hundred patients without treatment and without any medical solution due to lack of access. to their entire medical records. According to our investigation, a large number of these patients nicknamed by a media “the toothless of rue de Rivoli” were victims of misleading medical practices and complications after having undergone massive dental extractions, the installation of implants and prostheses. integrals, say “All on Four”. Surgical interventions carried out by foreign dentists, some of whom, Brazilians, did not have the authorization to practice in France.
A previous complaint in 2017
“We do not yet know all the elements of this affair”, the National Order of Dental Surgeons explained to us last June. However, according to our information, the excesses of this office located on the prestigious Rue de Rivoli have long been known to the Departmental Council of the Order of Dental Surgeons of Paris. A criminal complaint against Swiss Dental Services for “illegal practice of dentistry and complicity” had already been filed in March 2017 by its former president, Brigitte Ehrgott. In this procedure consulted by franceinfo, the regulatory body for dental surgeons in Paris perfectly identifies the serious abuses of this practice: “dentists work without a contract”, “a platform for recruiting patients to clinics in Portugal while delivering certain illegal care (…) which constitutes an obvious danger for public health due to the total absence of control over the practitioners who will provide this care”.
Closed in July 2019 by the Paris public prosecutor’s office, this complaint was curiously not the subject of an appeal by the Parisian Order of Dental Surgeons nor of specific measures to control the activity of this office. or inform patients of a potential danger to their health. According to patients and former staff of this practice contacted by franceinfo, the Regional Health Agency and the Regional Directorate of the Medical Service of Île-de-France Health Insurance have also been alerted in recent years to abuses and fraud. alleged allegations of this firm before its final closure this year.
“I live like a recluse”
Six months after the interruption of care, many patients of Swiss Dental Services are still in medical impasse. Many despair of a solution like Mima* who tells franceinfo of her ordeal: “Since March 1, 2022, my life has changed. That is to say, I am still with this temporary device in my mouth which is broken. I have an implant which is visible. All the food I swallow passes under my appliance, between the prosthesis and the gum. My diet is only liquid. My doctor prescribed it for me, I no longer eat solid foods. I have lost 14 kilos. My social life does not exist more. My family life has taken a hit. I have difficulty speaking. I live like a recluse.”
“I’m on antidepressants. I almost ended my life. I want these people punished. Everyone who participated in this scam.”
:quality(50)/2023/10/12/whatsapp-image-2023-10-12-at-18-10-55-6528276568a49328419561.jpeg)
The situation of these patients is getting worse day by day, explains Mima*’s lawyer, Chloé Méléard: “All of them, today, are in deep medical and moral distress. They suffer physically. Their temporary prosthesis deteriorates over time and they face difficulties in the smallest act of their daily life to feed themselves or even communicate. In fact, their life has become a real ordeal. We do not know if they will have access to all of their medical files without which no French dentist will agree to treat them. They have also paid almost all of their their savings for care which was sometimes not necessary or was poorly carried out. From now on, the judicial authority and the order of dental surgeons are seized, but they do not have the power in the short term to improve the health situation of these people. So, obviously, they are waiting for a reaction from the health authorities, from the ministry in particular.” Contacted by Franceinfo, the services of the General Directorate of Healthcare Supply (DGOS) and the National Health Insurance Fund (Cnam) were unable to answer our questions before the completion of this article.
“We are no longer facing something new”
The affair is reminiscent of other high-profile dental scandals such as the recent Guedj affair in Marseille or the distress of victims of low-cost dental centers like Proxidentaire or Dentexia. Thus, more than seven years after a judicial liquidation, nearly 3,000 patients defrauded or mutilated including more than 1,500 plaintiffs, the judicial investigation targeting those responsible for Dentexia is still not closed, enraging Abdel Aouacheria. This CNRS researcher and president of the Dent Bleue collective sees an obvious parallel between the victims of rue de Rivoli and those of Dentexia: “We can only lament, or even rebel once again, that the same causes generate the same effects. The lack of controls in dental centers leads to unacceptable levels of risk for patients. Today, we cannot is more of a novelty since it has already happened in the past.”
“The authorities are obviously aware of all this since they have been warned for seven years now that dental scandals continue. There are known channels and levers to facilitate the resumption of care for these patients.”
Abdel Aouacheria, president of the Dent Bleue collectiveat franceinfo
“In our caserecalls Abdel Aouacheria, the Minister of Health had drawn up a legal note clearing the practitioners who agreed to take back the victims of Dentexia. We were helped to establish an oral and dental situation certificate instead of medical-judicial assessments which take far too much time. The Ministry of Health had also activated financial aid via the Social Security Social Action Fund. It is absolutely possible to help these victims since others have been able to benefit from help. These victims did not ask to become victims. They are in an emergency. The Ministry of Health and the National Order of Dental Surgeons have a responsibility or at least a role to play.”
*The first name has been changed.