By Sheldon Spackman

Dental Dispute

Local dentist seeking resolution in dispute with Alberta Dental Association and College

Jul 18, 2019 | 4:30 PM

A Red Deer dentist accused of unprofessional conduct through his advertising practices is continuing to drill home his concerns over apparent double standards in dental advertising.

This despite Dr. Michael Zuk having had his dispute with the Alberta Dental Association and College (ADA&C) dismissed by the Supreme Court of Canada on April 11, with costs being awarded to the ADA&C.

The Supreme Court judgement stems from Zuk’s application for leave to appeal from the Court of Appeal of Alberta judgement last August that saw Zuk’s case refered back to the ADA&C’s Council for further consideration of sanctions and costs.

Zuk says he is now exploring different options for his case.

“I filed a petition to the Supreme Court regarding the ban on my book (Confessions of a Former Cosmetic Dentist – May 2010) but unfortunately they didn’t have time for mine. So I guess if you’re a dentist-author, freedom of speech isn’t important,” says Zuk. “So now, I’m back into the appealing possibilities I have open to me in the province. I’m kind of bouncing back between the dental authority and the Court of Appeals.”

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Zuk says he’s currently appealing for a new jury at the ADA&C to hear his case.

“I was in trouble for advertising that our office was selected Best Dentist (in a local newspaper) in 2007 and in 2019, we won Gold (in the same newspaper) for the Reader’s Choice Award,” says Zuk. “We’re not allowed to advertise that but in the same newspaper, one of the jury members was advertising his office’s selection in the awards. So basically, they’re caught advertising things that they’re trying to suspend me about doing.”

As for his book, Zuk describes it as generic, but warning patients about dental courses teaching dentists to ‘over drill’ and ‘over diagnose’ for pure profit.

“It’s no surprise that some of the courses are sponsored by dental labs that make more money if the dentist does a full mouth of crowns,” he explains. “So this whole corruption of the dental training process is recognized as a problem, it’s just the Alberta dental authority didn’t really want me to be the one telling the world about it.”

In the meantime, Zuk says his dispute is going back to the Court of Appeal of Alberta to petition an order for a new tribunal at the ADA&C, a group he says is made up of members of council currently suing him.

“It’s kind of a weird situation where everybody is suing me and they’re the ones determining whether I get suspended and fined,” he explains. “So there’s something wrong with the system and I’m just bringing it to the surface by talking about it because most dentists who are picked on, they’re very quiet and they just hide in a corner. Whereas I’m trying to bring everything I find that’s incorrect, out to the surface and just publicize it and tell other dentists about it and they’re quite shocked to see the president of the Dental Association is going to advertise that he won a Reader’s Choice Award but in the bylaws, it says you’re not allowed to do that.”

Zuk feels the whole dispute could have been resolved a long time ago by the ADA&C simply admitting there’s a problem and working on a solution, adding the ADA&C is not adequately screening continuing education which can lead to harm to the public.

“Patients need to be aware that dentist’s continuing education can actually lead to dentists being more risky to see,” says Zuk. “Some dentists that claim to have thousands of hours of certain designations, that might actually be cause for concern. A basic dentist may be safer to see than someone who tries to push a full-mouth of crown and bridge.”