Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

B.C. tribunal dismisses duo's $4,125 lost time claim for 'measuring depths around our teeth'

Couple wanted 'explanation of the benefit and price for measuring depths around their teeth'
Dentist
Dentist doing dental examination.

B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal has dismissed a small claims action by two people looking for $4,125 in compensation for time they claim was wasted seeking information about “the benefit and price for measuring depths around our teeth.”

Otto Haug and Edith Normandin filed the claim against the B.C. College of Oral Health Professionals (BCCOHP) for “time wasted looking for an answer” after they canvassed local dental clinics and dentist associations in both B.C. and Manitoba for answers.

The $4,125 accounts for 165 hours at $25 an hour the applicants claim they spent over the last three and a half years pursuing the matter. It also includes reimbursement for “services we paid for, but never asked for and did not need,” such as the cost a local clinic charged for teeth straightening, according to an Aug. 22 decision from Tribunal chair Simmi Sandhu.

“However, they provide no evidence to support what the services were and who provided them and no evidence to support the time and the rate per hour claimed,” Sandhu said.

At one point were told to contact the BC Dental Association and the College of Dental Surgeons of B.C. about the benefits of measuring depths around teeth, but say they failed to recieve a satisfactory response, according to the decision.

Sandhu added the two applicants provided no explanation why they filed a claim against the BCCOHP and didn't include the clinic in their complaint.

The college said it’s a non-profit organization that investigates complaints and concerns about the professional conduct or competence of oral health professionals.

“There is no evidence that BCCOHP is legally responsible in any way to the applicants in this dispute,” Sandhu said.

“Further to this, BCCOHP says the applicants filed a complaint that has been resolved.” 

Sandhu dismissed the claim.