Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello

I'm just interested to hear from anyone who has managed to get a full refund for orthodontic work that hasn't worked out. And how you went about getting it.

Particularly from anyone in Australia.


Thanks.

Well... In general, it is very hard to get refunds for "bad" dental or ortho work. It all depends if you can credibly prove that the work was "bad". For example, if you started with an underbite and ended up with it, you might be entitled to a credit. Or if you started with an overbite, but developed an underbite that cannot be fixed, this is also a credit. I would imagine, if your gaps are not fully closed, in some cases, you might negotiate a small refund. However, you have to keep in mind that dentistry is like any other treatment, there are certain risks associated with it, and unless an identifiable malpractice was done, there is no refund.

I suggest you talk to your ortho and try to settle things peacefully. Dental/orthodontic lawsuits tend to be hard to prove, not cost effective and thus rare. Good luck!

I'm not sure how they do things in Australia, but in the US it's standard practice for orthodontists to have patients sign a release form stating that they are not liable for anything that goes wrong and that there are no guarantees that things will turn out well/as planned. The intention is to protect them for things that are unpredictable and out of their control, but it also ends up protecting them when they make mistakes. You can ask for a refund, and they may refund a partial amount, but I would not expect a full refund without a long fight and proof that they were at fault for what went wrong.

To get proof that they were at fault, you would need to find another dental professional to certify this to give your case credibility, which may not be possible. There seems to be some unwritten code among dental professionals to not comment on each other's work, even when it is bad.

I'm not sure how it works in Australia but in England if the dentist did not inform you of all the alternative treatment options with the risks then they failed to obtain informed consent. If you type in 'orthodontic informed consent' into google it might give you some ideas. You could try speaking to the dental association in Australia for some advice.