Every person visited a dentist: some for preventive purposes, and others for the purpose of dental treatment, bite correction, and prosthetics. Anything can happen, and after treatment it may turn out that the services provided by the dentist or orthodontist were of poor quality, and if money was also paid for such services, then somehow it becomes completely sad. What to do if the dentist provided poor-quality services?
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Is the dentist obligated to return money for poor quality treatment?
The dentist, or to be more precise, the organization in which the dentist works, is obliged to return money to the patient for poor-quality dental services, but first it is necessary to prove that the treatment was carried out poorly, i.e. establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the treatment performed by the dentist and the negative consequences that occur.
When presenting demands to a dental organization for a refund of money due to poor quality of services, an individual must refer to the Consumer Protection Law, which regulates such issues.
Requirements must be submitted in writing in the form of a claim outlining all the circumstances, including how the patient established the fact of poor-quality provision of services, for example, a dental x-ray was taken.
Application deadlines
In accordance with Art.
30 of Law No. 2300-1, when providing low-quality services, the patient has the right to file a claim during treatment or when receiving the result. The consumer must set a reasonable time frame within which the defects must be corrected. In the contract concluded with the client, the dental clinic may indicate a guarantee for services. If the information is not registered, then, as a general rule, the period for filing a claim is 24 months from the date of receipt of the result. In this case, you will need to prove that the defects arose due to the fault of medical workers.
How to prove a dentist's mistake?
To prove the dentist’s mistake, the patient must have at least some documents that confirm that in a particular dentistry the patient was provided with dental services in the treatment of a specific tooth or other dental services were provided. Sometimes the treatment of a specific tooth is indicated in the receipts that are issued upon payment.
The patient can go to another dentistry and/or have an x-ray taken, which will show the results of the treatment, including shortcomings, for example, the presence of a broken instrument.
You can also contact an expert who will give an opinion on whether the dentist made a mistake when providing services. Obtaining such a conclusion will require certain costs.
ATTENTION : according to Article 86 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, the expert’s opinion is not mandatory for the court, however, the court can take it into account when assessing it in conjunction with other evidence.
If the patient had a tooth treated in another dentistry, then you should request information from the medical record, as well as request information from the dental record in which the error was made.
Questions from our readers
Is there a difference in complaints about a private and public clinic?
If the clinic is state-owned , then its activities are controlled by Roszdravnadzor. Rospotrebnadzor monitors the quality of services provided by private medical institutions and dental offices. The prosecutor's office and the court are government agencies where you can turn in both cases. The content of a complaint against a private or public clinic is no different.
When can I file a complaint with the health department?
A complaint is sent to the Department of Health if patients encounter irregularities in the work of public dental clinics and employees of medical organizations. Based on the application, an unscheduled inspection should be carried out at the institution.
How to check the work of a dentist?
When a patient has undergone treatment, but he wants to make sure that the doctor’s work was done efficiently, he can first visually evaluate the work performed using a mirror.
After this, you can take a picture of the tooth that the dentist treated, and with it (with the picture) the patient has the right to go to another dentist, possibly to another organization, which will provide an explanation about the quality of the treatment performed. Of course, it is important that the doctor who looks at the image is qualified.
Before treating a tooth, you can check with the dentist to see how conscientious he is. This need most often arises if a citizen turns to private dentistry, the purpose of which is to make a profit. It cannot be said that all private dentistry deceive their clients, but there are cases when the patient is told that there is caries on almost all teeth, and when a person comes, for example, to a budget dental clinic, it turns out that there is no caries, only darkening of the enamel.
What to look for when choosing a clinic?
Even at the stage of choosing a clinic or salon, pay attention to the following aspects:
- Availability of a license.
Before signing up for a procedure, make sure that the selected clinic has a license for medical activities and is valid. Often such information is posted on the website or in the office, otherwise you can send a request asking to see the document. - Certificates of specialists.
The employee providing your service must not only be a certified medical specialist, but also have a certificate confirming training in the relevant field of medicine. Ask to show you these documents before you sign the contract and agree to any manipulation of your appearance. - Equipment registration.
If hardware cosmetology is used, the salon must have a certificate of state registration of the equipment used for this. You can check this information yourself on the Roszdravnadzor website. - Registration of drugs.
All prescribed drugs must have a certificate of state registration, which confirms the legality of their use in cosmetology. You can check this information yourself on the Internet by going to the website of the Ministry of Health (in the state register of medicines).
How to punish a dental clinic?
Dentistry can be punished if the services are provided with poor quality, and if such services also lead to harm to health, then in addition to the losses caused to the patient, he will be able to demand compensation for moral damages, and a fine for failure to satisfy his demands on a voluntary basis.
To submit claims, the citizen must have documents confirming that he was treated in a specific clinic, and that the harm to health was caused by the actions of the dentist of this clinic.
The actions of the victim of the services provided may be as follows:
- submitting a written complaint to the dental clinic;
- writing a complaint against the clinic for poor-quality services provided to the territorial body of the federal service for supervision in the field of healthcare, to Rospotrebnadzor, to the prosecutor's office, so that the clinic is inspected;
- If the clinic does not satisfy the demands of the victim, the latter has the right to prepare a claim in court for the recovery of damages, penalties, compensation for moral damage, fines, and legal expenses.
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Claim for poor quality dental treatment
In a claim for poor quality dental treatment, the patient must indicate:
- to whom the claim is addressed, i.e. name of the dentistry and its address, you can specify a telephone number and email;
- from whom is the claim, i.e. the patient indicates his full name, address, telephone number, email;
- the name of the document is indicated on a new line in the center - a claim for poor-quality dental treatment;
- The following describes the essence of the current situation, i.e. when the patient turned to dentistry, what contract was concluded, what manipulations were performed by the dentist, what the patient felt before treatment, during treatment and after treatment, what consequences occurred after the services provided, where the patient went, what was established, etc. In order to show that the patient is not just writing a claim, but intends to go all the way until his demands are satisfied, the legality of his demands should be supported by references to the provisions of the law on the protection of consumer rights, which regulates issues related to the protection of consumer rights in poor quality of services;
- in the pleading part of the claim, the victim indicates his requirements, i.e., what the clinic should do in order to somehow restore his rights, for example, return the amount paid for treatment, compensate for losses incurred, pay compensation for moral damage;
- if desired, the patient can attach copies of documents confirming his arguments and requirements, listing them in the application;
- the claim must be signed by the patient.
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How to win a lawsuit against a dentist?
It cannot be said unequivocally that the court will 100% rule in favor of the patient, since circumstances vary, because the plaintiffs’ demands are not always justified, or the plaintiffs may not provide all the necessary evidence. What can help the court make a decision in favor of the plaintiff? And it can help if the plaintiff proves a cause-and-effect relationship between the dentist’s manipulations and the resulting harm to the patient’s health.
To prove the validity of their claims, the patient must have an agreement with the clinic and receipts for payment. The patient can also take pictures of the teeth that were treated, saving these pictures, and receive an expert’s opinion on the quality of the treatment performed.
ATTENTION : dentistry may not take into account the expert’s conclusion and disagree with it, and the court, when considering a case, may, on its own initiative or at the request of one of the parties, order a forensic medical examination.
In addition, the patient has the right to submit a written request to dental clinics, if he has applied to several dentists, to be given copies of his medical records. Clinics will most likely refuse to issue copies of records, but in this case they must issue extracts from such records, which will indicate which teeth were treated and when by which dentist. It is better to obtain such statements in advance.
When the case is heard by the court, it is necessary to file a petition with the court to request medical records from dental clinics.
The totality of these documents, if they confirm that the treatment was carried out poorly, will help to win the case.
Witnesses regarding the circumstances of the case may also be questioned at the court hearing.
What problems might you encounter?
Even the most picky choice of a clinic and careful study of all the information does not protect against possible negative consequences. Let's list the main global problems (related to the consequences of cosmetic procedures) that salon clients have to deal with.
- Direct harm is caused to health: skin damage, tissue deformation, swelling, cracks, and so on.
In this case, the reason may be either the low qualifications of the doctor or the drugs used during the procedure. It is no secret that, in order to save money, some salons may use low-quality products that are not registered in our country and have no proven effectiveness. Their influence on appearance is unpredictable. Such “consequences” are a clear reason to file a complaint and, if necessary, go to court.
- The result is significantly different from what was expected.
Remember the photographs of stars - victims of cosmetic medicine. They are a vivid example of how you can ruin your appearance in the pursuit of beauty. But no one consciously wants to get such a result. If after visiting the clinic you see a similar “transformation” in the mirror, this is a reason to file a complaint.
The most subtle point in this case is the assessment of the result and the problem of different views on aesthetics. For example, you got a tattoo and saw that the artist distorted the original sketch. Is it possible to make any claims in this case, or can you prove nothing, since aesthetics is an individual thing?
– Sketches are often selected in the salon. But regardless of where you choose (salon, your own sketch), it would be nice to record that this particular drawing is being ordered. If this is a sketch of the interior, record it in the catalog with a gadget. Your own sketch - put the master’s signature on it. Then differences from the drawing, as well as poorly performed service, can be easily proven, and the master will most likely admit his mistake,” explains Alexander Borisov
. – And if not, then such evidence will be assessed by the court. If you agreed to a certain image, received a high-quality service, and then decided that you do not like the result, there is no point in filing a complaint against the salon.
Another area in which differences in tastes may cause problems is tattooing. Despite the fact that the masters try to demonstrate the intended result as clearly as possible, there may be discrepancies and outright mistakes on the part of the performer. To make it easier to prove your case if necessary, take photographs of the process at different stages. A competent specialist first draws a preliminary “sketch”, from which the client can determine whether he likes the proposed option. It is advisable to photograph the work at this stage. If the final result is very different, you can easily prove that you received poor quality service.
- There is no pronounced effect that you were promised.
This is also one of the difficult moments, because assessing the effect is an individual concept. Often the client and the doctor have different ideas about what the end result should be. Naturally, it depends on many factors, but if you see that there is no benefit from the procedure at all, this is a reason to think about it. And first of all, about what drugs were used.
– As a rule, the characteristics are stated in medical preparations, but the clinic only uses them, and there may be a difference in the effect relative to the patient’s physiology (skin condition, age, etc.). And here, first of all, you should pay attention not so much to the doctor’s manipulations, but to whether the declared medication is actually used, because in a number of clinics, for example, instead of more expensive drugs they use less expensive ones, and hence the results, or rather, the lack thereof. – adds Alexander Borisov
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