A former Guelph dental hygienist labelled a sexual abuser for cleaning his wife's teeth has launched a GoFundMe page to help pay for his court challenge.
Alex Tanase had his licence revoked three years ago by the College of Dental Hygienists of Ontario after providing dental care for his wife at Dawson Dental Care.
While dentists are permitted to work on their spouses, the law does not currently permit hygienists to do the same.
“That’s right: I have been labelled a sexual abuser by CDHO and the Ontario government when no actual sexual abuse existed,” Tanase writes on his GoFundMe page.
“I have also had my licence to practice revoked for five years—a mandatory penalty for being involved in a sexual relationship with a client. I cannot begin to explain the destruction this defamation of my character and licence revocation have caused to my life, marriage, finances, and reputation,” said Tanase, who lives in Cambridge.
He says he lost his job, is suffering from depression, is in danger of losing his home and is experience other stress-related difficulties.
In five days the fundraising page has reached $3,740 of the $35,000 goal Tanase said is needed to appeal the decision to the Ontario Court of Appeal.
Tanase has also started a petition on change.org that has garnered 4,638 names in five days.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your love and support. To family, friends, clients and people I do not personally know: the feeling of love is overwhelming, it lifts me up from the vortex that this decision has trapped me in. Thank you for giving me the strength to keep going,” Tanase said.
Ontario's Divisional Court upheld the professional body’s ruling earlier this month and Tanase wants to take the appeal to the next level.
"There is no other case of any dental hygienist anywhere in Canada who has been found guilty of sexual abuse for treating his wife," the court said in its ruling. "It is indeed unfortunate that the (discipline committee) elected to proceed with the complaint."
Tanase has taken to social media to describe what the ordeal has put him through.
"My name is attached to this for life. Not to mention having my licence taken for 5 years which has caused me to lose my job and risk of losing my home. I have also been losing my hair, living with high blood pressure, and eczema, which I never had before. I live with an insane amount of stress on my life and marriage, suffering from depression and anxiety daily. I have been unable to sleep, unable to start a family because my wife and I have been sinking deeper into depression due to stress and financial burden, and on top of this, I am forced to pay ridiculous fines and fees of over $70,000," he wrote on his Facebook page.
The situation started when Tanase mistakenly believed a colleague who told him hygienists were now allowed to treat their spouses. While there is a move to make that possible, it has not yet become law.
Tanase said a former friend of his wife’s lodged a complaint after reading a Facebook post showing the two of them in the dental practice and her complimenting the work.
The province enacted the zero-tolerance policy of health care professionals working on people they are sexually involved with in 1993 to protect patients from exploitation. Consent is irrelevant.
