A hundred patients today find themselves in distress after the closure of a Parisian practice with questionable practices. Clandestine Portuguese and Brazilian dentists operated there on a chain of patients to fit them with prostheses. The order of dental surgeons and health insurance are seized.
It is the dream of the perfect smile, touted on advertising brochures or on the internet, which turns into a nightmare for dozens of Parisian patients. People abused by a dental practice with dubious practices, a stone’s throw from Place de la Concorde. Last March, this firm suddenly closed its doors “due to unpaid rent between associated dentists”, explains the Order of Dental Surgeons of Paris to franceinfo. Patients then find themselves in interruption of care without access to their medical records and, for many, carrying temporary appliances that are unsuitable or damaged after having had all their teeth pulled out.
Because in this office run by a dentist registered with the order of French dental surgeons, the specialty was the “All on Four” technique (all in four). Clearly, the promise for people suffering from generalized loosening to obtain a total reconstruction thanks to the fitting of complete prostheses of 10 to 12 teeth, fixed on only four implants screwed into the gum. The method is known and practiced in France by trained dentists. It requires first pulling out all the teeth of the upper and/or lower jaw, or even both.
Clandestine dentists
Reassured by a prestigious address, rue de Rivoli facing the Tuileries Gardens, and prices below those of the market, many patients with major dental problems and little savings were seduced by the offer of this practice. But since its closure, patient testimonials have been pouring in to denounce deceptive medical and commercial practices. According to information from franceinfo, all these patients have been treated in recent years by clandestine dentists, mainly from Brazil. The patients describe the same scenario each time: a first appointment with the dentist in charge, a simple panoramic X-ray and a brief questionnaire which quickly lead to an estimate for the fitting of a complete prosthesis on implants, requiring the removal of all the teeth involved. Then these patients say they have been delivered to young foreign practitioners, most often Brazilians, for all the stages preceding the surgical operation.
“At each appointment, it was different practitioners. None spoke French.”
A victimat franceinfo
We have reunited with a former collaborator of this firm. It confirms the intervention of clandestine Brazilian practitioners: “Most of the time, it is Brazilian dentists who come to France to perform the surgeries. When I worked there, they slept at the hotel. Then, it was a question of taking an apartment by the month to house them. The only dentist who has the right to work in France only made estimates. We used our CPS card (Health Professional Card) to teletransmit to Social Security. The quotes were in his name, the letters, the invoices, etc. But he wasn’t the one doing the surgeries in the mouth, it was the Brazilians I saw.”
According to our information, these Brazilians, like the doctor based in rue de Rivoli, were all employees of the company Swiss Dental Services, based in Brazil and which has around ten centers in Portugal and the United Kingdom. Contacted by franceinfo, she did not respond to our requests. According to accounting documents provided by this collaborator, the firm could earn up to half a million euros per month. Salespeople insisted on cash payments, promising discounts in exchange.
Some “didn’t know what they were doing”
One of the former dentists of the Swiss Dental Services group confirms this to franceinfo: “They employ these guys because by paying a professional in France, they will pay him between 15,000 and 25,000 euros per month, whereas if you bring someone from Brazil, they pay him 5,000 euros. They save 10,000 to 20,000 euros per month. They provide plane tickets, accommodation, a car. When I worked for Swiss Dental, I knew real dentists who worked very well, but they all operated clandestinely. They had no authorizations. But I also knew guys who didn’t know what they were doing. They weren’t dentists. I knew one who came to operate in France when he had never done surgery before and there were big problems with the patients.”
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One of the victims of these dentists testifies for franceinfo. She is 64 years old, wants to remain anonymous and is about to file a complaint. She gave 12,000 euros to this firm, more than a third of which in cash for the installation of two complete prostheses. His operation went wrong. “The operation started at 9 a.m., until 8 p.m., with doctors who do not speak French.”
“They started giving me anesthesia, pulling my teeth out. They were having trouble placing the device from below. I had bruises all over my face and everything. I felt unwell.”
A patient, victim and future plaintiffat franceinfo
She continues: “I told them: ‘Stop, I can’t breathe anymore, I can’t breathe anymore’. I was scared. I tell you frankly, I was scared. I said to myself ‘that’s it, I’ll end it there’. I still have an infection downstairs, I have four screws sticking out and hurting me a lot. I am suffering”.
“Everything was done to convince the patients to accept this very heavy operation and to extract even healthy teeth.explains the repentant dentist from Swiss Dental. The directives of the direction, it was to impose on the customers the complete implants. It doesn’t matter how you have to place implants. You have to tell the patients: ‘Your teeth are no longer good, you have to take everything out’. It was necessary to convince the patient to follow the process until the end and that it was the only medical solution until the end. Sometimes it was justified, but very often it was wrong.”
Since the closure of the cabinet in March and the disappearance of the doctor employed by this group, several dozen French patients have been trying to organize themselves. “My dentures are broken, it’s been almost a yearsays Eusebio. I took out a loan from the bank to cut my teeth. I have to pay another 6,000 euros to the bank”. His wife Cindy assists him in his efforts: “In our case, we lost €9,000 and we don’t have the means to go elsewhere for treatment. We don’t know the brand of the implants, the nature of the metals that are today locked in his gums “How can we leave patients like this in despair? What will become of us?”
The Order of Dental Surgeons and Health Insurance are seized
Many of these patients complained individually. Others promise to do so. The lawyer Chloé Méléard carry several of these complaints. “Our clients are in great medical and moral distress. They expect a lot from the authorities to shed light on this situation, she says. Retrieving medical information is perfectly legitimate for a patient to have the right to have access to all the medical information concerning him. That’s what we’re trying to achieve right now.”.
In parallel with the criminal consequences of this case, the Parisian Order of Dental Surgeons and the Regional Directorate of the Medical Service of Ile-de-France Health Insurance have just taken up the case. The first reports of abuses in this office date back more than a year. Contacted by franceinfo, the Order announces that disciplinary proceedings will be launched next Monday. “We do not yet know all the elements of this case.explains Geneviève Wagner, of the National Order of Dental Surgeons (ONCD), but all foreign dentists intervening here are obligatorily authorized to practice by the ONCD. The ‘All on Four’ technique is practiced in France by trained and specialized dentists, with approved equipment. The dentist must first carry out an examination and an extensive questioning with the patient (history, allergies, etc.), an X-ray and a specific scanner (Cone Beam) to assess the quantity and quality of bone available. It is then necessary to carefully monitor the patient to assess whether the implants are holding correctly before the installation of the final device. The dentist’s ethic is to prolong the life of the patient’s teeth. It is not to pull out all the teeth that are still viable to put in a prosthesis and implants”.
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