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The College of Dental Technologists of Ontario has started a review of this “new business approach” to better understand how the dental devices are being made, and the role of the registered health care professional in that process.

“The College’s goal is not to interrupt innovation in the market place, but to ensure that patient safety is paramount and that regulations put in place to protect patients are followed,” said College Registrar Judith M. Rigby.

Another issue is that SmileDirectClub makes patients sign away their right to sue and instead complain only through an arbitration demand to the SmileDirectClub CEO.

Photo by Smiledirectclub

Fefergrad noted that no one can sign away their right to bring a complaint to a professional regulator, however, and ultimate responsibility for patient care remains with the dentist, even if that dentist never meets the patient face to face.

SmileDirectClub’s involvement with patients’ treatment “is limited to providing management services and production of aligners per a licensed dentist’s orders. The treating dentist maintains sole responsibility for all aspects of his or her patient’s care,” the company has said in U.S. court records. It says it “offers licensed dentists and dental practices access to its web-based teledentistry platform and a comprehensive package of related non-clinical business and administrative services.” The result, they say, is cheaper teeth-straightening.