Defending an RCDSO Complaint

The Dentistry Act changes nothing about the process. What is genuinely specific to dentistry is the inspection regime, and it produces a category of problem the other colleges do not have.

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ICRCResolution ProgramInspectionsRegister

Investigation | Resolution | Discipline | Permits

What is particular to dentistry.

Sedation, general anaesthesia and dental CT facilities are permitted and inspected.

Re-inspection runs on a three year cycle, and deficiencies are published until rectified.

The Resolution Program can include a fee refund, which is rare among Ontario regulators.

Failing to reply to a written College enquiry is itself an act of professional misconduct.

Quick Answer

How does the RCDSO complaints process work?

Exactly as it does at every other Ontario health college, because the Dentistry Act, 1991 does not modify the process at all. It is a shell statute dealing with scope of practice, authorised acts, Council and titles, and the whole complaints machinery sits in the Health Professions Procedural Code, Schedule 2 to the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991. The Registrar notifies you within 14 days, you have 30 days to make written submissions, and the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee disposes of the matter under section 26(1). Two things are genuinely particular to dentistry. The first is the College’s inspection regime for sedation, general anaesthesia and dental computed tomography, which issues facility permits and individual authorisations and re-inspects on a three year cycle. The second is the Resolution Program, the College’s alternative dispute resolution stream, which unusually can produce a small financial remedy such as a refund of fees.

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THE PROCESS

Ordinary Code Machinery, Applied to Dentistry

Because the Dentistry Act does not vary the Code, everything that governs a College of Physicians matter governs a College of Dental Surgeons matter. The Registrar notifies within 14 days. You have 30 days for written submissions under section 25.2. The screening stage is documentary, with no hearing and no oral submissions.

The Committee’s four dispositions under section 26(1) are the same: refer to discipline, refer for incapacity, require an appearance to be cautioned, or take whatever action it considers appropriate. Remediation programs and negotiated undertakings both come out of that last, residual option.

The register consequence is the same too, and it is what should shape any negotiation. Cautions and remediation programs are register entries under section 23(2) and remain indefinitely. Undertakings appear only while in effect. Nothing agreed through the Resolution Program is posted.

THE RESOLUTION PROGRAM

The Stream That Leaves No Trace

The College’s alternative dispute resolution stream is branded the Resolution Program. It requires the consent of both parties and, unlike the bare statutory model, the approval of the Registrar. It is free, uses a trained mediator, typically runs about two hours, and operates on a 60 day clock extendable to 120.

Its outcomes can include an acknowledgment, an apology, an educational commitment and, in a small number of cases, a financial remedy such as a waiver or a refund of fees. That is a genuine oddity: almost no Ontario regulator can produce money for a complainant, and the College cannot order it either. It happens here only because both parties agree to it.

The College’s own reporting for 2024 puts 46 complaints, about seven per cent, into the program, with 21 resolved through it. So it is not a common route, and it is not available where sexual abuse is alleged. Where it does fit, the fact that nothing is posted makes it worth asking about early rather than late.

INSPECTIONS

Permits, Facilities and Deficiencies

This is the part of dental regulation with no real equivalent elsewhere. The College operates inspection programs for sedation and general anaesthesia and for dental computed tomography, issuing facility permits and authorising individual practitioners by modality, with annual renewal and re-inspection roughly every three years.

A deficiency identified on inspection is published on the register and remains visible until it is rectified. That is a reputational exposure arising from a process that is not a complaint, has no complainant and involves no allegation of misconduct against anyone.

It also creates a bridge into the misconduct regime. The professional misconduct regulation makes contravening the College’s published standards an act of professional misconduct, which is the mechanism by which a sedation standard becomes a disciplinary matter rather than a practice expectation. An inspection finding is therefore worth treating as a regulatory matter from the outset.

THE TRAPS

Correspondence, Orders and Attendance

The professional misconduct regulation lists 61 acts, and several of them have nothing to do with clinical care. Failing to reply to a written enquiry from the College is one. Failing to co-operate with an investigation is another. Breaching an order or an undertaking is a third, and failing to attend when required to be cautioned is a fourth.

These matter disproportionately because they are easy to prove. There is no clinical dispute, no competing opinion and no question of judgment. There is a letter, a date and either a reply or no reply.

The practical consequence is that a dentist who ignores College correspondence while dealing with the underlying complaint can convert a defensible matter into an indefensible one. If a deadline cannot be met, the answer is to say so in writing before it passes rather than to explain afterwards.

Common Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Dentistry Act change the complaints process?

No. It deals with scope of practice, authorised acts, Council, titles and offences. The entire complaints and discipline process comes from the Health Professions Procedural Code, which is Schedule 2 to the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, and applies identically across the health colleges.

What is the Resolution Program?

The College’s alternative dispute resolution stream. It needs the consent of both parties and the Registrar’s approval, is free, and runs on a 60 day clock extendable to 120. Outcomes can include an acknowledgment, an apology, education and occasionally a refund of fees. Nothing agreed through it is posted on the register.

Can a sedation inspection lead to discipline?

It can. A deficiency is published on the register until rectified, and separately the professional misconduct regulation makes contravening the College’s published standards an act of professional misconduct. That is how a standard becomes a disciplinary matter, so an inspection finding is worth treating seriously from the start.

How long does a caution stay on the register?

Indefinitely. Cautions and remediation programs are register entries under section 23(2) of the Code with no expiry. Pages stating a six year posting period are misreading a different provision. Undertakings, by contrast, are visible only while they remain in effect.

I missed a College deadline. How bad is that?

It is a discrete problem and it is worth addressing separately from the complaint itself. Failing to reply to a written enquiry and failing to co-operate are each listed acts of professional misconduct, and they are easy for the College to establish. Write, explain and propose a date rather than leaving it.

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Defending an RCDSO Complaint

How does the RCDSO complaints process work?

Speak to a Regulatory Defence Lawyer

Ordinary Code Machinery, Applied to Dentistry

The Stream That Leaves No Trace

Permits, Facilities and Deficiencies

Correspondence, Orders and Attendance

Frequently Asked Questions

Talk to Us About an RCDSO Matter

Lexaltico LLP

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