Patients Stranded Mid-treatment After Practice Closes
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- Published: Wednesday, 23 April 2025 09:41
- Written by Peter Ingle
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Although dental practice closures have become a regular event, one group of patients in Northampton will be feeling especially hard done by.
A long established practice in the town closed without warning in November 2024, with many patients only realising this after discovering that the phone was not being answered. Unlike the series of closures made by some of the larger corporates, this episode has left patients mid treatment and out of pocket, with little prospect of having their work completed.
Now, according to patients, there have been complaints of painful implants, missing teeth and unfinished treatment costing thousands of pounds.
Former patients of Myclinique in Northampton have told ITV News Anglia they had no warning from staff that the clinic in Cheyne Walk, would shut its doors by November 2024. Some only realised when their calls were left unanswered.
Retired US veteran Daniel Toro had been travelling from Bicester in Oxfordshire for his treatment plan at the practice for over a year. But when his implant supported restorations started falling out in the autumn, the clinic stopped replying to his messages and pleas for help. He says he paid over £17,000 for treatment with Dr Mark Buddha but he only has broken implants in a plastic bag to show for it.
"That was it - I tried to call them back, nothing," he said. “It’s painful too, because every time a tooth breaks, it leaves a sharp edge and I’ve got to file it down so it doesn’t hurt.” Mr Toro now has only the metal substructure remaining in his upper jaw, and some of the restorations in the lower jaw, which makes it painful to eat and talk. He said: “I don’t know if I can handle any more. I’m retired, I’m not employed.” He added that getting the work fixed could cost him thousands of pounds more.
Mr Toro had spoken to another former Myclinique patient of the practice, online. She had spent over £6,000 on orthodontics, and had been a happy customer until things went quiet for her too. She said: “I’m 32, and I’m missing two front teeth and it’s embarrassing. It’s just really upsetting: that was my biggest insecurity and that’s why I went there, and now it’s worse than it was before I went for treatment.”
Mike Dooks is another former patient who was left with unfinished treatment. He spent £19,500 on implants, but only the upper jaw was completed before the practice closed. He said: “We’ve been left in the lurch, there was no communication that the surgery was going to close. Emails, phone calls, correspondence was left unanswered, and quite frankly it’s been a really difficult time, not just for me but I know for many of the other Myclinique patients."
Mr Dooks said he had been quoted over £20,000 to complete the work on his lower jaw, and replace the maxillary implants that cause him discomfort. He said: "It’s really, really disappointing, and I know that I’m going to have to fork out a considerable amount of money to complete the treatment that Myclinique should have done."
Around the same time Myclinique shut its doors, the CQC had published its damning results following an inspection into the owner’s orthodontic practice at the same address, which failed to meet regulations.
The CQC had said that it had taken enforcement action to cancel the registration of the orthodontic practice for failing to meet the regulations relating to safe and well-led care. The service had been de-registered in November 2024.
For its part, the GDC told ITV News that the principal had ‘retired’ his registration in October 2024.
Towards the end of 2024 some enquiring patients were told the practice was simply closed for refurbishment. Some were told it would reopen in December, others were told February.
Later a new company, called Str8 Smiles, said it had taken over the practice and promised to reopen after refurbishment - but did not give a date for reopening.
Str8 Smiles are a company run by Skyline Innovations, based in Belize, but the new manager Muhib Shigri told ITV News Anglia that there had been setbacks with building work at the practice, adding: “Unfortunately, this is a new venture for us in the UK. There have been delays in opening and we apologise for this.”
Since speaking to ITV News Anglia, Daniel Toro and Mike Dooks have been offered full or partial refunds by the new owners. However, seven other former Myclinique patients who had spoken to ITV News Anglia off-camera had yet to be offered any refunds or compensation.
When contacted, the former principal had not responded. There are further unanswered questions that emerge from this story, including the measure of protection that the unfortunate patients had been afforded by the dental regulators.
Other than the home page of the practice website currently other pages return a blank page which states ’this page does not exists’ [sic].
The ’about us’ page of the website previously stated that ’Dr Mark is also well-known in the celebrity world, as he is the go-to man for a large number of A-listers who are seeking treatment to perfect their smiles. Over the years, he has treated the likes of reality TV stars, musicians, actors, models and footballers to help them achieve the gleaming smiles we often associate with the limelight. Dr Mark himself has also been featured in the press for his incredible transformations and the ability to treat patients that have been turned away from other dentists’.
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