Shame on them! Video an embarrassment to dental professionals

As a proud dental professional of 40-plus years, I have a few things to say about the video that came out of Premier Dental in Knoxville, Tennessee, that went viral last week. I’m guessing by now most of you have heard about it. I was a bit late hearing the news, so if you were too, let me fill you in. 

A patient in the dental practice accidentally left their personal journal at the office after visiting the dentist. Someone found it and placed it in the dental office manager’s office for safe keeping until the patient could retrieve it. I’m guessing what happened next is what some people thought would be funny. 

One of the dental team members began going through the journal. The video shows a few team members gathered, with one reading the private journal entries while another one listens and giggles. I personally couldn’t watch too much of it because I just felt terrible for the patient. They even went so far as to title the video, “Found a patient’s journal and now it’s story time lmao."

So, allow me to break this down. They took something that wasn’t theirs, and they read it. Someone recorded the person reading the journal entries and then posted this to social media. What?! And of course, the big question—why? 

This incident reminds me of someone dumb enough to rob a bank, video themselves doing so, and then posting it to social media. Seriously, if these dental team members decided to do something this wrong, why on earth would they decide to put it on social media? They posted it to Snapchat and I’m guessing they thought the video would appear and then immediately be taken down. I’m guessing they figured no big deal, right? But it is a big deal. It is a very big deal.

This video is an embarrassment 

First of all, this dental team breached privacy. In my opinion, reading someone else’s journal is something a 14-year-old boy would do to his sister. I certainly do not expect this behavior from adults, let alone dental professionals. The patient is going through some major health issues, and their entries were obviously very private. 

In the video, as the journal is being read aloud, others can be heard giggling in the background. Sharing someone’s private information is simply not OK. Was this a HIPAA breach? As far as I know, they didn’t mention the patient’s name in the video. But that is a much bigger discussion.

This entire event begs questions about these “professionals”: If they can’t be trusted not to get into someone’s personal belongings and invade their privacy, how can they be trusted with anything else? If these dental “professionals” thought nothing of doing this and then posting it to social media, what else would they feel was “acceptable” to do?

People come to our offices every day, many of them lacking the proper oral health care they’ve needed for years. They have put off coming to our offices, whether due to fear or lack of finances. Some are embarrassed and timid, and just showing up gives them anxiety. 

As a profession, we’ve spent years gaining the trust of our patients so they feel comfortable coming to us for treatment. We’ve all put in countless hours of care and empathy for what some of our patients go through, and now, in one very short, very sickening video, much of that trust has been destroyed. 

Premier Dental Group has issued an apology. According to Fox News, three employees have been let go because of the incident. Also according to Fox News, the practice has been bombarded with negative online reviews.¹ 

From what I determined watching some of the video, four employees were involved—one reading the journal, a man sitting close by and scrolling on his phone rather than getting involved, one sitting on the floor and giggling, and one taking the video. All except the man were terminated from the practice.  

Knoxville is a good size city, but the dental community is small, and I assure you, there’s no place for these people to hide when something like this happens. I mean, what do they think they’re going to do; go down the street to another dental office for a new job? Like most viral videos, this will blow over in time, but right now, I’m sure these people are laying low and licking their wounds. 

To the patient whose privacy was violated, and all the other patients out there thinking we’re not to be trusted; I assure you, we are very sorry. This is not the norm in our profession. Most of us work very hard every day to gain your trust and be there for you. 

We are oral health-care professionals, and that carries some big responsibilities. The privacy of our patients is essential and it’s something that we shouldn’t even have to be reminded about. But we’re reminded anyway, of course. Our annual HIPAA training, and hopefully our own common sense, should tell us that this is not acceptable behavior.  

We must ALL do better and be better, for the sake of our patients and for each other. 

Reference

1. Baehr J. Staff members at dental office read aloud, mock cancer patient’s private diary; video. Fox News. August 13, 2024. https://www.foxnews.com/us/staff-members-dentist-office-read-aloud-mock-cancer-patients-private-diary-video