A dental surgeon practicing in downtown Ottawa has had his license suspended for two six-week periods effective March 20.
The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO), the governing body for Ontario’s dentists, suspended Dr. David Halpin after being found guilty in January of assigning unqualified people to perform procedures, recommending unnecessary dental services, charging excessive fees, misrepresenting a treatment or procedure, and submitting false or misleading charges.
Halpin has been practicing dentistry for 28 years and works out of Smiles on Sparks, a practice on Sparks Street between Metcalfe and O’Connor Streets. His first suspension will last until April 30. He will have to serve another six-week suspension at a later, as-yet undetermined date.
Halpin will have to take three training courses on jurisprudence and ethics, record keeping, and interpersonal skills and workplace relationships.
The RCDSO will monitor Halpin for two years after he completes the courses by sending an inspector to Smiles on Sparks to check the dentist’s records and charts. The inspector’s first report will determine the number and frequency of the random checks, said Irwin Fefergrad, the RCDSO’s registrar.
“Generally speaking, the reports would probably be, assuming there are no problems, every three, four months,” he said. “If there are problems, it would be very frequently.”
Halpin didn’t appeal the college’s decision, instead releasing a statement to give the context behind the situation. “After much deliberation about the costs and distraction of pursuing a full-blown and lengthy
hearing in these matters, I have chosen to accept the significantly reduced charges brought by the College investigator so that I can move on with my practice and my life,” he said in a written statement released by Smiles on Sparks.
In his statement, Halpin said he allowed a dental assistant to place and remove orthodontic wires, elastic and plastic from patients’ teeth, adding that none of his patients complained about these incidents. This led to his charge of delegating tasks to an unqualified person, he said.
The findings of providing unnecessary services and charging excessive or unreasonable fees were related to taking panoramic film X-rays of patients’ teeth more frequently than necessary, Halpin said in the statement. The X-rays were taken every three to five years on average, he added.
“I made the clinical decision based on what I viewed as in the best interests of my patients. The amount of radiation of the panoramic film is less than that of two intra-oral films, such as a bitewing or periapical,” he said in the statement, describing two types of X-rays that involve placing the radioactive sensor inside the mouth.
The finding of misrepresenting a treatment or procedure came from a notice Halpin placed in the Ottawa Dental Society’s journal about one of his X-ray machines that the RCDSO found misleading, he said in the statement.
The final finding of submitting false or misleading charges was an isolated incident involving a patient referred to him for two dental issues, Halpin said in the statement. He said he billed the patient for three procedures, but did not give any information about why those charges were considered misleading or false.
Halpin is currently out of the country and could not be reached for comment.