Vancouver dentist fined $15K, ordered to stop practising outside scope of traditional dentistry

Dentistry tools are shown. (shutterstock.com)

A Vancouver dentist who treated patients’ “arms, legs, feet, hands, buttocks, coccyx, sacrum, neck, back” and other body parts—in addition to their mouths—has agreed to stop practising outside his professional scope, according to a provincial regulator.

Dr. Ara Elmajian signed a consent order proposal that was accepted by the B.C. College of Oral Health Professionals late last month and published online earlier in February.

The consent agreement resolves a complaint that had been under investigation since 2019, and avoids a discipline hearing, which had been scheduled to commence on Feb. 17 of this year.

In the document, Elmajian admits that he committed professional misconduct in three distinct ways: First, by asking or allowing an employee to provide treatment that the employee was not adequately qualified or trained to provide; second, by providing “various pain management treatments” that were outside his scope of practice; and third, by sending correspondence to the complainant that was “inappropriate and/or intimidating.”

The consent order indicates that Elmajian is a full dentist registrant with the BCCOHP and has been practising dentistry in Vancouver since 1975.

In the 1990s, he opened “Kinetic Patterns Holistic Medical and Dental Clinic,” where he does not practise traditional dentistry, but rather “biocompatible dentistry.” He also treats the management of chronic pain and illness, but he is not registered with “any other health regulator,” according to the document.

His pain management practices, which the consent order notes were outside his scope of practice as a dentist, included, as described in the document:

• Myofascial therapy, including trigger point injections, manual palpation, and/or injection of procaine, lidocaine, and/or homeopathic remedies into the body;
• Neural therapy injections;
• Osteopathic treatment;
• IV nutritional therapy;
• Prolotherapy;
• Cranial sacral therapy;
• PRF and PRP therapy; and
• Diagnosis and treatment of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome/Chronic Pain Syndrome.

Under his consent order proposal, Elmajian agreed to a reprimand from the college and provided an undertaking not to practise outside his scope, meaning he will cease providing each of the listed treatments to areas outside the “orofacial complex,” and cease providing services “outside of the definition of dentistry” in the college’s governing regulations.

Elmajian also agreed not to “attempt to influence any person who has made a complaint about him” and to complete a course on professional boundaries within six months of the college’s acceptance of the consent order proposal.

As part of the agreement, Elmajian must pay a $15,000 fine and $4,000 in “partial costs of the investigation” by Feb. 28.