What Happens on WhatsApp May Not Stay on WhatsApp
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- Published: Wednesday, 26 November 2025 09:52
- Written by Peter Ingle
- Hits: 1357
The late lamented Kevin Lewis used to tell the story of his advice to a disgruntled dentist who wanted to send a letter to a particularly trying patient, telling them just what he thought of them. After the dentist had read a draft of the no-holds barred letter to him, he asked Kevin what he thought of it. Ever diplomatic, Kevin Lewis told the dentist that it was a very good letter.
He then advised the dentist to put it in an envelope but rather than posting it, to put it in a drawer in his office and leave it there.
It is unfortunate that there is no physical drawer to safely quarantine social media posts as an alternative to posting them. At least one dental company that has been outed by a whistle-blower, must be regretting hitting the send button.
Whistle-blowers have made serious allegations against cosmetic dental firm Smile White - claiming staff circulated patients’ medical photos in internal chats, mocked clients over their appearance, and that senior figures used derogatory language in the workplace.
Screenshots leaked to LBC showed staff mocking clients’ appearances, comparing black patients to hippos and the movie character Big Momma, as well as ridiculing patients’ weight, and referring to clients with learning disability slurs in WhatsApp messages.
Evidence of the company founders referring to prospective clients as “UNICEF” - a code, they describe themselves, for “Africans that can’t afford treatment.” was amongst the leaked material.
The founders have told LBC they “regret” their use of the “inappropriate” term, and that it is not indicative of their character. The practice’s parent company told the channel that the messages which were sent in March 2025 were, “historic” and were “completely contrary” to its culture.
The company offers clear aligners and was made popular on social media by its twin co-founders. They have more than 4.3 million likes on TikTok, and hundreds of thousands of followers across their social media platforms. Along with promoting the business, the founder’s profiles share their impressive lifestyle, which has included the social media touchstones of private jets, Ferraris, and being seen boarding helicopters.
The company website claims it has more than 500 affiliated dentists across the UK, and boasts celebrity patients including Premier League footballers.
But the carefully curated online image has been damaged as whistle blowers have spoken of seeing and hearing things while working at the company that made it “morally challenging,” and a “toxic” environment. It is alleged that photos submitted by clients for treatment were circulated in internal group chats with around 50 employees, where they were openly mocked.
An informant who worked in recruitment at the group, claimed they saw client photos “shared and mocked” at work. Amongst the sales group chats seen by LBC, were messages that saw patients called “ugly af” and referred to an older client as an “old bat”.
The source said: "It was a bit dodgy how the sales team would share pictures. People think they’re sending these medical pictures to a dentist or orthodontist but all that happens is that you’ve got all these 18-year-old salespeople sharing it round laughing with colleagues. You’d feel violated.”
Though the company has said they have a “deep respect for the dignity of their patients”, they have admitted some employees “historically” posted offensive messages about patients in a WhatsApp group. They added that changes have since been made to increase oversight on the sales team.
While the company accepted that employees’ conduct was “completely unacceptable”, they failed to answer questions asking if any employees had faced disciplinary action.
One former salesperson, had decided to leave after witnessing repeated abuse towards patients. He said: “It completely went against my ethics - and to see that it wasn’t just one or two individuals, it was right through the business.” He claims to have reported the offensive messages to HR - but says the company paid him a lump sum to keep the messages confidential after he left the business. He decided to blow the whistle months later, when former colleagues claimed the same patterns were continuing.
The company told LBC that they do not consider that individual a whistle-blower, and had reported his conduct to police. It appears that the matter has since been closed by officers, with no action taken.
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