Ex-dentist who regularly saw patients fired: Court takes tough steps to stop his practice

A court has taken tough steps to ensure a former Terrebonne dentist who continued to see clients despite court orders can practice forever.

“This situation has to stop,” Judge Eric Dufour told a Joliet court recently, ordering Josie Gaudet to stop practicing dentistry.

A dentist in Terrebonne for nearly thirty years, he has been unable to practice since December 2022 because he banned the investigators from his professional discipline.

However, since then, he continues to see patients at his clinic. The Order of Dentists of Quebec (ODQ) has applied to the Superior Court on several occasions to obtain injunctions prohibiting them from practicing dentistry. In one case, the court even sentenced her to jail for a few days.

Gaudet told the court he felt like “a man on death row in America.”

The Supreme Court eventually issued a permanent injunction against Gaudet, barring him for life from practicing dentistry or disqualifying himself as a dentist.

“We must face the facts: Gaudet has no intention of stopping its illegal activities, and the public is at great risk when they consult it without any insurance. […] “The court cannot tolerate such a risk,” explained Justice Dufour.

That is why he ordered Josie Gaudet to hand over all his equipment, including chairs, to treat patients wherever they were.

“These decisions are unusual, but necessary,” the magistrate said.

In the past, the court had already ordered the handover of his instruments. However, this was only a “swipe in the air” as she was able to get new ones according to ODQ.

Heavy case

Josée Gaudet's case represents an enormous workload for the ODQ. According to estimates submitted to the court, this represents about 30 hours of work per week.

Trustee of the Ordinance d^R Mario Mailhot alone had to devote the equivalent of one day a week to Gaudet.

Over a 20-month period, Gaudet sent more than 160 emails to the command's officers and staff. In some, ODQ could be read as a “fake, false, mean and jealous” company or d.^R Mailhot “Misery and Dictatorship”.

Hoping to get her hands on the files seized from her, she sent about a hundred requests for access to the information.

As such, Judge Dufour ordered him to refrain from visiting the mandate's offices and from interacting with all its employees.