The General Council of Dentists has once again called for the urgent approval of a state law on health advertising after learning of the "sudden" closure of four centers belonging to the same chain of dental clinics, a situation that, it has pointed out, has left "dozens of people affected."
As explained by the collegiate organization, these closures in Madrid have surprised numerous patients "after having paid high amounts of money" for their treatments. Many of them "have seen their treatments left unfinished or not even started," it denounced, recalling that these cases add to the closure of two other dental clinics in Barcelona just three weeks ago.
The Council has detailed that those affected had paid "amounts exceeding 10,000 euros" and has warned that they now fear not being able to access their medical records. "When asked, the affected patients stated that they went to these centers because they were attracted by the advertising campaigns they saw on television," the professional institution noted.
For this reason, the collegiate body insists on the urgency of having specific state regulations on health advertising "that establish homogeneous, clear, and demanding criteria to regulate the messages that citizens receive about health treatments and services." In the words of its president, Dr. Óscar Castro, "we cannot allow healthcare to be promoted using the same commercial techniques that are used to sell any consumer product."
"Health cannot be subjected to messages that announce discounts, offers, lifetime guarantees, or promises of results," Castro added, emphasizing that "health advertising must be truthful, rigorous, understandable, and based on scientific evidence."
They demand to veto misleading messages and strengthen control
Given this scenario, the collegiate institution considers it essential that the future law expressly prohibit misleading or ambiguous messages or those that generate false expectations; prevent the use of health as an attraction through aggressive offers, discounts, and promotions; require all advertising to have scientific backing; and strengthen supervision mechanisms, incorporating truly dissuasive sanctions.
"We have been warning for a long time about the consequences of turning Dentistry into a business focused exclusively on mass patient acquisition and the advance sale of treatments," recalled the president of the Council, who pointed out that "it is not about limiting legitimate business activity, but about ensuring that any economic activity carried out in the healthcare field is subordinated to patient safety and good clinical practice."
Finally, after expressing its "concern" about the use of the term 'shops' to refer to dental clinics, the Council has emphasized that these constitute "a healthcare center where dentists, who are qualified professionals, diagnose oral pathologies, carry out treatments, and assume clinical, ethical, and legal responsibilities." In its opinion, "when we talk about 'shops,' we are discredited as practitioners, the profession is commercialized, and, what is even more serious, the patient is transformed into a customer."