The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO) says Adam Chapnick “used cocaine on approximately three occasions” and prescribed medication for a patient ultimately returned to the Barrie dentist for his own self-use.
Chapnick’s licence was revoked by the RCDSO on April 26. He is also to be reprimanded within 90 days and fined $10,000, to be paid within six months, for disgraceful, dishonourable, unprofessional, or unethical conduct.
The RCDSO recently released its final report on Chapnick, who previously owned and worked at a Toronto clinic as well as Molson Park Dental in south-end Barrie, a practice he sold in 2021 and is no longer affiliated with.
While some of Chapnick’s transgressions are related to medication, the RCDSO said it did not find he sold drugs.
“The college did not allege, nor did Dr. Chapnick admit, that he sold drugs,” the decision reads. “The panel (of the discipline committee) thus finds that while Dr. Chapnick did admittedly prescribe medication for improper purposes, or for non-dental purposes, and that he thereby abused his authority to prescribe or dispense drugs, there is no factual basis upon which to find that he sold drugs.”
There are no details in the report about his cocaine use, only that he “misused cocaine” on or about 2015, 2016, 2017 and/or 2018, and that he “used cocaine on approximately three occasions.”
The panel’s report says its decision will not be appealed.
Chapnick could not be reached for comment.
In mid-May, Chapnick told BarrieToday the college should have provided more context about its findings when the licence was initially revoked, prior to the full decision being released on Aug. 16.
In May, Chapnick said: "There is certainly context that goes with the case. In one instance, I gave a prescription that was an excessive number of pills — I gave 30 pills instead of 24. Did I do it? Yes, I’m guilty as charged. It was a mistake. I did it for a patient that I extracted six teeth on. It was a mistake and I accept that punishment, but would I lose my licence for giving extra pills? No.”
Between 2015 and 2017, the RCDSO says Chapnick prescribed an excessive number of opioids, and/or failed to limit the number of tablets dispensed for opioid prescriptions, to a patient, gave no rationale for exceeding the recommended maximum dosage and no indication of a step-wise approach to the prescription of opioids for the patient.
The panel’s report does say Chapnick’s position is that there are mitigating factors — that he has taken responsibility and is not contesting the facts, he has been co-operative throughout the RCDSO process and has no previous discipline history.
He was also found guilty by the RCDSO of prescribing, dispensing or selling a drug for an improper purpose, or inappropriately using authority to prescribe, contravening the standards of practice in relation to inducing general anesthesia or conscious sedation.
The RCDSO also says Chapnick, from 2015 to 2018, self-administered nitrous oxide and oxygen sedation after work hours, both in the office and outside the office, on three or four occasions, "for non-dental, recreational purposes."
Chapnick was also found guilty by the college’s disciplinary panel of having “committed sexual abuse of a patient.”
“My assertion was this was dentistry that I did on my girlfriend," he told BarrieToday in May. "If you want to get into the facts of the case, I met this woman in 2014. That’s when we made first contact. We had been intimate on a regular relationship basis. She was my girlfriend. She needed a check-up and I told her to go see my hygienist.
“This legislation is designed to protect patients from a predator, or someone abusing their power to influence a patient. This was not a patient. We had already slept together; she was my girlfriend and we lived together for part of the relationship,” Chapnick added.
The RCDSO’s position: “Any dentist who is in a sexual relationship with a patient is engaged in sexual abuse, as defined in the Regulated Health Professions Act. The college has zero tolerance for a dentist engaging in any form of sexual relationship with a patient.”
From April 29, 2015 until July 2018, Chapnick engaged in sexual intercourse, touching of a sexual nature and/or behaviour or remarks of a sexual nature toward a patient, the RCDSO says.
And while Chapnick’s patient, she received regular dental cleanings, exams and X-rays. He made an orthotic night guard for her and performed gum surgery, as well as dental examinations.
Chapnick did not bill her for any of the treatment he provided.
The RCDSO oversees nearly 10,800 dentists in the province.
