(WJAR) – Local orthodontists are sounding the alarm on direct-to-consumer teeth straightening companies after a popular business closed for good, leaving customers stranded.
SmileDirectClub announced its closure in December 2023, months after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The closure of the home orthodontic service has left customers without the necessary retainers to continue their treatments after initially being promised a lifetime ‘smile guarantee’.
Sharon Terzian from Rhode Island is one of those customers.
She was drawn to the company after learning all she had to do was pay $1,700 to fix her smile.
“It was a lot less money and I didn’t have time to go on a date every two weeks or so,” she said.
Terzian paid in advance and got her first shipment within the week.
“I got the first set of aligners and they didn’t fit. They were all wrong and they tore up the inside of my mouth,” he said.
Terzian stuck with the company and the plan, even though he never saw an orthodontist face-to-face.
“I was with SmileDirectClub for five years,” Terzian said. “It was only supposed to be a six-month course of treatment, but at the end of six months, my teeth were nowhere near where they should have been.”
Terzian was repositioned several times, but her last alignment mission never arrived.
“They filed for bankruptcy and sent us an email saying, if you have things in the works, you’re out of luck, if we owe you money, you’re out of luck, if you signed up for treatment and haven’t started, you’re out of luck,” he said.
Terzian also paid for a set of retainers for when her treatment plan was completed, but after the company closed, she didn’t get any retainers, aligners or her money back.
To add insult to injury, Terzian had to go to a local orthodontist and pay again to have her teeth fixed.
“It was originally $1,700 for SmileDirectClub. It was $500 for the retainers and then my actual orthodontic is $1,200,” he said. “My healing is not over. At least I’d like to be compensated for what I’m paying again.”
Terzian isn’t the only Rhode Islander now paying a local orthodontist after initially signing up for SmileDirectClub.
Sharon Lavigne of Hope was also drawn to the dollar amount.
“I wanted a nice smile,” she said. “I paid there and then, and they took my money, and then sent me on a plane.”
But Lavigne quickly backed down after saying her first set of alignments didn’t look quite right.
“They showed me what my teeth would look like when they were done and it didn’t look right, it didn’t look right.”
Lavigne got a second opinion with Dr. Kosmos Haralanvidis in Cranston, who told the NBC 10 I-Team that continuing with the treatment plan could have damaged her jaw.
“You’ll see what’s called a condylar beak, and you’ll see the damage and flattening of her jaw joints,” Haralanvides said. “From this design, they made an open bite, making the jaw joints even worse.”
Haralanvides said he has seen dozens of patients treated by SmileDirectClub.
“I would say over 60% of them were misdiagnosed,” he said.
While the company had shops that would take scans of patients’ mouths, Haralanvides said X-rays, a critical element in diagnosis, were never taken.
“You don’t know if the patient is centered, if it’s maxilla, mandible. Is it front, back?’ he said. “The range of motion, the muscle structure, the patient’s speech, the position of the tongue, the position of the cheeks, the swallowing pattern, are taken into account and are very critical.”
While SmileDirectClub is closed for business, Haralanvides warns of similar companies starting to pop up.
“That’s patient care,” he said. “The business world out there is trying to turn it into a consumer market, that’s not makeup.”
SmileDirectClub posted on its website that the Lifetime Smile Guarantee “no longer exists,” leaving little hope for patients like Terzian, who five years and thousands of dollars later, is still waiting for a straight smile.
“There doesn’t seem to be any recourse,” he said. “I’m out of luck.”
Bankruptcy proceedings continue for SmileDirectClub.
The NBC 10 I-Team tried to contact the company, but no one returned emails.
It is unclear if refunds have been issued.
