London, Ont. dentist loses licence after sexual relationship with patient

A London dentist has lost his licence to practice and was fined $10,000 for having a sexual relationship with a patient and releasing confidential patient information.

Dr. Brock Rondeau was found guilty of four counts of professional misconduct – abuse of a patient, giving information about a patient without consent, sexual abuse of a patient and disgraceful, dishonourable, unprofessional or unethical conduct – by the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario.

Rondeau, a licensed dentist since 1966, engaged in a sexual relationship with a woman who had been his patient from 2018 to 2022, when the two had intercourse and sent “electronic messages of a sexual nature,” a disciplinary panel for the college found.

In 2021, Rondeau sent the patient a photo of his daily schedule, which included confidential information about other patients and another photo that showed prescriptions with confidential patient information, the panel found.

Rondeau “breached appropriate dentist-patient boundaries” between 2020 and 2022 by engaging in an intimate personal relationship with the patient, sending her intimate electronic messages and travelling together. The women cared for Rondeau’s vacation property and the pair discussed buying a home together, the panel found.

Rondeau admitted to the professional misconduct allegations involving the woman, but denied having sexual intercourse with her. The woman became his patient in July 2018, after suffering a workplace injury, and was referred to Rondeau though the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, the panel found.

“As a dentist licensed to practice in Ontario, Dr. Rondeau was required to maintain appropriate and dignified boundaries in his relationship with his patient. His conduct . . . fell well below that standard,” the three-member panel wrote in its decision.

“He misused the power imbalance between himself and his patient,” the decision stated, also noting that “Dr. Rondeau’s conduct was disgraceful, dishonourable, unprofessional and unethical” and that “it would be reasonably regarded as such by members of the profession and by the public.”

In addition to the $10,000 fine, Rondeau was also ordered to reimburse the college, which regulates dentists provincewide, for paying for therapy and counselling to the patient, at a cost of $17,370.