Former Auckland dentist Saad Al-Mozany faces legal action in Australia

A dentist facing possible disciplinary action after allegedly vanishing from Auckland leaving scores of patients mid-treatment is suspended from practicing dentistry in Australia while he is under investigation for similar offences there.

Saad Abdul Hassan Al-Mozany is facing a professional misconduct charge in relation to 13 Auckland patients before New Zealand’s Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal.

All were patients at the Orthodontic Institute, of which Al-Mozany was a director and shareholder.

The orthodontist specialist allegedly disappeared in 2018 leaving them with problematic teeth and nothing to show for thousands of dollars paid for treatment.

But records reveal allegations have also been levelled against Al-Mozany across the Tasman.

He worked as an orthodontist in New South Wales after allegedly abandoning the Auckland practice, at Gentle Dental Care in Sydney and Invisalign Australia Pty Ltd.

The Herald has contacted both clinics.

The Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) is prosecuting against Al-Mozany before the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

It accuses Al-Mozany of “unsatisfactory professional conduct” relating to the treatment of 14 patients, documents show.

The proceedings are ongoing and a decision has not been made by the tribunal, it told the Herald.

Proceedings are also before the NSW Dental Council, which suspended Al-Mozany’s registration as a dental practitioner.

Al-Mozany is appealing the decision.

“The suspension of the appellant arose from an adverse consideration of the treatment afforded by him as an orthodontist to a number of his patients,” documents say.

Meanwhile Al-Mozany is defending proceedings in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, brought against him by the Gentle Dental Care group.

His former workplace brought the proceedings “with respect to or arising out of his engagement by that group to perform orthodontic work in surgeries with which they are associated”.

Al-Mozany is “not to practice dentistry until reviewed by the Dental Council of NSW and this condition is removed”, according to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency website.

It states his current registration is due to expire in November.

The Herald has contacted legal council representing Al-Mozany in Australia.

New Zealand victims

Multiple New Zealand patients of Al-Mozany have contacted the Herald while the tribunal proceedings are adjourned, frustrated that they haven’t been refunded for unfinished treatment.

“He should pay all of our money back plus compensation,” one patient who only wants to be known as Chen, said.

She says she paid him around $7000 and claims she has a biting issue and has been wearing aligners for five years.

“At that time I was really depressed because it was a lot of money for me.

“I thought [treatment] would be a good investment.”

Another patient who paid $7000 for Invisalign treatment said receiving payment would bring closure.

Al-Mozany said he did not know about the two-day hearing in Auckland, and was given three weeks to gather evidence to prove this before the Tribunal.

Until then, the hearing has been adjourned.